The Carnage Games
by kilera
Summary: Fate played a cruel joke on Olivia Williams when she showed up late for work at Merlotte's. Little did she know that she would be pulled into a dangerous game that she never dreamed could even exist by resident bad boy vampire Sheriff Eric Northman. How will The Carnage Games change them both? Eventual Eric/OC with an alternate history.
1. Intro: Appeasing the Masses

Hello Everyone! This story was an idea in my head that just wouldn't leave, so I decided to start writing it, finally. I will still be writing Mine as well. I would never abandon my girl Arabella! I hope you like this one too!

FYI… This story takes place with an alternate history for the citizens of Bon Temps and Shreveport, so the Maenad, Russell, etc. has all already occurred and Billith, well, I'm just not going there with this story. My OC will show up in Chapter 1. As you read, you'll see that this is sort of a mash up of the Hunger Games and True Blood. I thought it'd be sort of interesting to see what could happen.

Please read and let me know if you think this is worth pursuing… Thanks!

…

"Please, do not take this as questioning your authority or decisions, as I mean no disrespect. But I have to ask, after all this time, why are you starting these games up again, your Majesty? Don't they go against the whole AVL agenda of peaceful cohabitation with humans? If the humans knew, even suspected that we…" Bill asked, trailing off as he shifted his weight uneasily in an antique Louis XV arm chair that Queen Sophie-Anne had received as a present from the actual Louis XV after having been one of the king's favorite mistresses. Even though Bill was considered one of her most trusted advisors, he still felt uneasy when having to question one of her decisions. And while she was well over 600 years old, she looked every inch the teenager that she was when she was turned, and unfortunately also acted with the reckless abandon of a youthful mind occasionally. One could only hope that you caught her on one of her mature days.

Sophie-Anne stood up from the white leather chaise that she had been lounging on, rolled her eyes at Bill and theatrically began to pace alongside the beautiful aqua blue water of her indoor pool. "Oh William, ever the Boy Scout. Well, I guess I understand your questioning the merits of starting these games up again, they can get quite bloody, but that's the point really, isn't it. They aren't called The Carnage Games for nothing." Seeing his mouth open in what she assumed would be further protest, she held her hand up to stop him and continued, "But before you get your panties in a bunch, I've already discussed the prospect of holding the games with The Authority and they approve. They're actually going to send a representative to observe how we proceed with the festivity and if all goes well, they'll use it as a prototype for the other kingdoms. It's going to bring in a shitload of money for my kingdom in the process." Sophie-Anne squealed in delight at this, because if there was anything she loved more than blood, it was money; diamonds were a close third though.

Bill looked at his queen in shock for a moment before asking, "I'm still at a loss here… The Authority… approves?"

Sophie-Anne rolled her light baby blues again at Bill and replied, "Bill, are you familiar with the stats on the level of violence and crimes committed in my kingdom by vampires since we've come out of the closet?"

Bill's expression turned somewhat pensive as he responded, "Yes my queen, there's been a spike in violence reported by the all the area sheriffs." And then he said, after shifting again in his chair a little, "They've had to clean up a lot of messes." He knew that she would understand that he meant literally and figuratively.

"Yes there's been quite the spike and if this keeps up, they'll be no human in Louisiana who hasn't been glamoured in ten years tops." The Queen said huffily but then added, "It can't continue William. We can't keep glamouring the humans and I can't have the human authorities questioning why we can't keep our own under control. And therein lies the problem. Something needs to be done to help our kind control ourselves. Now that we've exposed our secret, we've had to deny our basic instincts. We've had to try to bury the burning desire we have to kill, to witness the life essence leaving some pathetic creature, to rip the guts out of something."

"But all of those actions make us savages. Aren't we trying to be… _better_?" Bill asked confused.

"We are already better; the master species so to speak. The problem is that we can't let the humans in on that. Oh sure, I mean they get that we don't die…easily… and that we have to sleep during the day, but I don't think they _really_ understand just how powerful we are. Look at how those pathetic creatures pay, actually pay, to get into vampire clubs, to see us up close, to be _with_ us. It's sheer lunacy if you really think about it. They _**don't**_ know… they don't get just how dangerous and powerful we are and we have to keep it that way or they will surely try to exterminate us William. What they lack in power, they more than make up in numbers. We would be driven to the point of extinction. So in the meantime, to keep this uneasy balance, we have to find ways to appease the more, as you put it, savage tendencies that we have. You know that we will never be able to completely keep them at bay, but if we can find ways to keep them in check, well…" The Queen said as she cocked her eyebrow up.

"And you think these _games_ will appease the masses?" Bill asked, still not entirely convinced.

"Yes, I do. I've changed the rules up a bit from the traditional games held centuries ago. Gotta update for the times, right? Anyhoo, we're going to have more contestants, but not a number where humans would become suspicious of so many people gone missing. Let's see, oh yes, and more audience participation, more gore, more twists. I really think it'll play out really well." The Queen replied happily, giving herself a little happy clap as she clearly was proud of the work she had done already for the games.

"Well, this seems like a done deal then." Bill replied knowing that these games were going to happen with or without his blessing. Questioning any further would only antagonize his Queen and put him on her shit-list. No one wanted to be on her shit-list.

"I'm glad that you're on board then William, especially since I'm going to put you in charge of getting it all together. I'll just e-mail you an outline of the games and it'll be your job to see my vision come to life. And… not that I need to remind you or anything… but you better not lose sight of the fact that _a lot_ is riding on the success of these games, William. Not only will the Authority be watching very closely, but I have no doubt that other kingdoms will send representatives as well. I WILL NOT BE MADE TO LOOK LIKE A FOOL WILLIAM!" The Queen said fervently.

"I would never dream of doing less than my best on your behalf, my queen." Bill emphatically replied. "If that is all, my queen?"

"No, I'm sure that's more than enough for your plate. You're going to have quite the task ahead of you William. I need this all to be accomplished in three weeks' time. I've already sent out informal invitations to the heads of the kingdoms of Mississippi, Texas, and Arkansas, our nearest realms. You will send out the formal ones tomorrow night. It's a good thing you have a progeny now, seeing as you'll need all the help you can get. Oh, and since you live in Area 5, I've already sent word to Sheriff Northman that he will be helping in any way you see fit, especially monetarily, that bastard's loaded."

Bill stood stone-faced at the mention of Eric helping him. Eric Northman, the same asshole vampire who repeatedly tried to take his beloved wife away from him on many occasions. 'This is going to be fun.' Bill thought to himself sarcastically before replying to his queen, "Thank you for this opportunity to serve you my queen."

"Of course William. You've always been a good subject. Now before you go, please make sure to send Sookie my love. It's been _ages_ since I've seen her at court. You _must_ bring her soon. And of course, she will attend the games. I simply will not hear that she cannot attend." The queen said with a smirk. She knew that Bill wouldn't want to bring his precious fragile human wife to such an event, but Sophie-Anne knew that if Sookie was going to survive in Bill's world then she would need to know everything that it entailed. Keeping his wife in the dark wasn't going to do her any favors. Further, Sophie-Anne actually liked Sookie and knew that the little spitfire of a human, well, almost human, was actually stronger than she looked.

"Yes, your majesty. I will." Bill replied before running off at vampire speed to return to Sookie, dreading every step as he had no idea how he was going to tell her about this.

…

Sookie was sitting on the front porch of her Gran's old house, a glass of lemonade to her left on the ivory ceramic drum table and a tawdry romance novel in her hands. Even though she and Bill were married now, she still held onto the property and preferred to be there when Bill was out of town. Ever since the Compton house had been fully renovated, will all the bells and whistles that Bill could afford, giving it a very modern, masculine feel, she didn't feel as comfortable in it. She actually had felt more at ease at his home, well their home now, when it was run down and in need of some TLC. Maybe it was because she grew up without a whole lot of money, or maybe it was because Bill had done his renovations without consulting her, although to be fair they were only newly dating when he began them, but in the end the Compton house was all him. The only input she was able to give was in the kitchen, because being human; she really was the only one to use it.

Bill knew he'd find his wife at her old home and was not surprised when he drove up the gravel drive to see her sitting there on the front porch enjoying one of her guilty pleasures. He stopped the car and drank in her beauty for a short while, knowing that the serenity she had on her face now would be disrupted once he told her of what he had to do, and more to the point, what she'd be forced to watch.

Sookie looked up from her book when she heard the car coming, a soft yet tentative smile forming on her lips. She knew Bill was coming home tonight because he texted her, but she didn't know exactly when. That was why she was reading her book outside, waiting patiently for her love to come home. The Queen didn't request his presence often, but when she did, it usually came with a price. Sookie couldn't help but worry about what that price would be this time.

…

"What? Is this some sort of sick joke?" Sookie roared, anger all over her face, when Bill showed her the outline of the games on his computer. He had gone over and over in his mind, trying to come up with a way to tell his wife about the event that the Queen had put him in charge of planning, but in the end knew there was no good way to tell her. So, he just opened up his laptop computer, opened the e-mail from the Queen and let her read it. The only thing he could hope for right now was that his wife would understand that he had no choice but to follow the request given to him by his queen, and by extension, their queen.

"Let me get this straight….she wants _you_ to put… _**this**__…_ together! And she wants me to watch? Has she lost her ever-lovin' mind?" Sookie asked, aghast at the twisted games that Sophie-Anne wanted Bill to put together.

"This is no joke Sookie. And unfortunately I have no choice. She would consider any refusal to do her bidding a treasonous act, punishable by the true death. You know that she's administered the true death for lessor offenses. Not only that, the Authority has been contacted... and will be in attendance." Bill replied hoping she'd see that this was something neither one of them could get out of, no matter how much they wanted to.

Sookie thought about what he said, remembering the last time they were at court. A young good-looking male vampire, Hamish, had foolishly not paid the full amount of tribute he owed to the queen, thinking she'd never know. Well, she did know. And so, he, and everyone else present, found out first-hand what the wrath of the queen consisted of. Not one to be afraid of getting dirty, she shoved her fist into his chest, where his dead heart lay, and pulled it out, lifting it up to his face to see. Shock registered in his eyes just before he quickly disintegrated into a pile of goo at the Queen's feet.

She also remembered the last time Bill had to deal with the Authority after Bill and Eric killed Nan Flanagan, the former head of media relations for the Authority. Both Bill and Eric were tortured by silver mist and sun light in silver cages for two weeks. The punishment would've been worse had the Authority not wanted to get rid of Nan anyway. But even though the two of them had done the Authority a favor, they did it outside the chain of command, which was a big no-no in the vampire world.

She sighed regretfully, knowing that Bill was right; there was no way for them to get out of this without losing their lives. And besides, even if they stood up for what was right, protesting the holding of these perverse games, and lost their lives in the process, the Queen would just get someone else, someone more eager for blood, to finish the task. The loss of their lives would not prevent the games. But, if Bill and she could work on them together, maybe, just maybe, they can sneak some more humane elements into the macabre festivity. However, even if she worked on it with him, it didn't mean that she necessarily wanted to witness it firsthand.

"Okay, I get that you can't get out of this, but why does she want _me_ there? I don't think I could sit through something like this Bill. There's going to be so many people killed… just for sport." Sookie asked dejectedly. Since she started her relationship with Bill, there were a lot of things that she had to learn to deal with or put in a little corner of her mind to feel guilty about later, but this by far was the worst to date. Of all the attacks and bloodshed and killing that she'd seen and taken part in over the past three years, those all could be justified or at least explained on some level. These games… they were straight up murder for entertainment; a revolting attempt to cull the gruesome urges of the more primal vampires. She didn't think the corner of her mind was big enough to house such guilt.

"Truly I don't know why she wants you there, but if you are called to be there, you must attend." Bill said sadly as he took her into an embrace. He never wanted her to see this side of vampire nature, at least not if she wasn't one, which she wasn't. She chose to remain human and he respected her wishes. In fact, her humanity was one of the things he loved the most about her. He could only hope after seeing the games that she would be the same person.

…

Please let me know if you think this is worth pursuing…. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 1: Decisions Decisions

Hi ya'll! Olivia and Eric make their first appearance in this chapter. It's still a bit of set up, but I hope you like it! Please read and review!

…

Bill waited patiently at the hostess podium of Merlotte's Bar and Grill to be seated; brushing off the raindrops that had fallen onto his short dark brown hair and navy blue slicker. Looking around at the early dinner crowd, he noted how it seemed that business had really picked up as of late, especially as he watched the frantic waitresses practically running to finish serving their tables, hoping to get them out the door before the rain really started to come down. To the untrained eye, their actions may have seemed chaotic and disorganized, but in all honesty, the wait staff here worked like little ants, scurrying about expertly and efficiently. A smile crept onto his face as he was truly happy for Sam, the owner. They had all been through so much over the past few years, especially after the Maenad wreaked havoc on their lives. Sam had proven to be a loyal and trusted ally, although Bill knew this was mostly due to the shifter's affection for Sookie. But what once was a sexual longing on Sam's part for Bill's wife had evolved into a true friendship, and nothing more. Sam was now happily involved with a fellow shifter, Luna, and the two seemed to be heading down the road to matrimony themselves, even going on double dates with Bill and Sookie every so often.

The small smile on Bill's face fell slightly when he saw it was Arlene who would be seating him. The obnoxious red-headed waitress never had a nice thing to say to or about Bill or vampires in general. For the life of him he could never understand why Sookie held such a soft spot in her heart for that hateful woman, although his wife did seem to be inexplicably drawn to lost causes. However for now he would have to grin and bear it. Sookie made it abundantly clear that she would not kick Arlene out of her life, unfortunately. In truth, he wouldn't have minded if the redhead had to participate in the games. She would only be missed by her children and possibly potential husbands four, five and six.

After Arlene made her usual comment about how normal decent god-fearing people don't drink blood, she left to get his order of AB negative, huffing the whole time as if he just asked her to slit her wrist open and drip blood into his mouth instead. He always made sure to flash his best fake smile her way when she took his order though, because he knew it got under her skin that he was so polite and nice to her. Sometimes he wondered if she doth protest a bit too much, but then again, the thought of sucking blood from her wretched over-tanned leathery body made him want to gag.

While Arlene was microwaving his blood, he pulled out his phone to text Eric… again. Eric had avoided the last three meetings he had set up in regards to getting the games afoot, saying he had important Sheriff business to attend to. Not that it couldn't be true, but Bill knew that there was no love lost between the two of them and Eric no doubt didn't want to do more than he had to in regards to helping Bill out, even if the Queen had ordered it. Just as Arlene returned with his True Blood, wordlessly placing it on the table and leaving just as quiet, he received a text from Eric saying that he would be there within twenty minutes. 'I'll believe it when I see it' was all Bill could think to himself as he took a sip of the barely palatable drink, trying not to think about the awful taste.

As he sat there in the booth, he couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the three weeks he was given by the Queen to assemble the games were almost over. Truth be told, he'd be happy when the games themselves were over, because it was causing strain on his marriage, but more so on his poor suffering wife. Sookie was at heart a gentle soul, and the thought that his queen was making her participate in these savage games made him beyond angry. He just wanted this all done and over with.

After about ten minutes of being lost in his own musings, Bill's head shot up when he caught a whiff of his wife's scent enter the building. She too was supposed to be in on this meeting. To his surprise, she had actually proven to be irreplaceable in the planning process, contacting and coordinating with day laborers and contractors that he could not during the day for obvious reasons, which allowed the unbelievably speedy construction of the grandstands, arena, barrier protection and temporary lodging. It wasn't that he didn't think she could handle the tasks; no, she was a very smart and resourceful woman. No, he was more surprised that she was able to get past _what_ she was working on. He knew she loathed the idea of the games; that working on them with him pained her to no end; that the bags under her eyes were from the sleepless nights filled with tears of guilt and dread at what was to come. But, he also knew that she was sneaking in comforts for the unlucky contestants where she could; that she was trying to add a touch of decency into the utterly horrific and terrifying spectacle that was to come; not only to make the last moments of those poor souls a little less painful, but also to help her make some sort of peace with herself. Even though he knew she knew that their hands were tied, that these games would go on with or without them, it didn't make any of this any easier to swallow for his wife.

"There you are my dear. Oh my, you're absolutely drenched." Bill said to Sookie as he gave her a peck on her rain soaked cheek and tucked a piece of her wet light blonde hair behind her ear after sitting down next to him in the booth.

"I'm sorry I'm late, the rain really picked up out there and made driving a little harder, especially from where I was coming from." Sookie said as she grabbed a few napkins to try to blot herself dry a little. He cringed slightly at the remark as he knew that she had just come from the competition site.

"You should have called. I would've come and got you." Bill said as he caressed her cheek lovingly, trying to distract her from her thoughts.

"You're so sweet, but really I'm fine, just late." She replied as she tried to smile, but it never did reach her warm brown eyes. Then, seeing the empty seat across from them she said, "So I take it Eric is bailing on us, again."

"Maybe. He texted that he'd be here in twenty minutes; but you know him and his games. He may have just texted that to have us wait here needlessly. But then again, the games are in two days and if he doesn't show up, he knows I would have cause to tell the Queen of his less than stellar assistance on the project. He may hate me, but he knows he can't cross his queen." Bill replied while debating on taking another sip of the True Blood in front of him.

"Speak of the devil." Sookie said as she caught sight of the gorgeous Area 5 Sheriff, all 6'5" blonde Viking goodness of him. How could she not notice him? He walked into the restaurant looking like a Calvin Klein model with his wet clothes clinging to his perfectly chiseled body, magnifying his gloriously toned muscles, memories reminding her that he knew how to use that body right. Even though she was married, it didn't mean that she couldn't fantasize over a former lover now and then, or that she was oblivious to the obvious. The man was amazing to look at, but that was all. She _**loved**_ her husband.

Eric not only caught Sookie's attention, but the attention of everyone else in Merlotte's as well. Even after all this time, and all the visits he had made to this place, people still couldn't help but stop what they were doing and stare for a moment at the scary but beautiful behemoth of a man that he was. If this was a century or two ago, you probably would've seen ladies swoon over the sight of him. He rolled his eyes at the pathetic creatures who ogled him as he walked past them to get to the booth. There was only one person in the establishment that he deemed worthy of his presence, and she was currently unavailable due to her being married and all.

Once Eric had finally moseyed up to their table, having taken his sweet time to get there, letting the peons take in his godly presence, Bill said, "Glad to see you could make it… this time."

Before Eric answered, he sat down in the booth, on the opposite side of Bill and Sookie, spread his arms out along the back of the faux leather upholstered seat, leaning back to get comfortable. He then looked Bill straight in the eye and replied, "I'm a very busy man Bill. It's my job to keep the order in the area; not an easy task these days." It wasn't a lie. Things were really getting out of hand lately; so much so that Pam, his progeny, was essentially running his nightclub Fangtasia while he dealt with all the problems the vampires in his area were creating. He had to admit that he too had hoped to a small degree that the games would indeed help quell the sudden onslaught of violence. However, Eric felt that something more was going on. Until he had some proof though, it would just be a hunch and nothing he could go to any authority with.

"I suppose it has been difficult lately." Bill countered reflectively and then added, "But that's why these games have to be held. I've received your generous donation of funds to help the cause. We were able to do quite a bit with the money. The Queen sends her thanks by the way."

Eric thought to himself, 'Of course she sends her thanks. I'm practically paying for the whole fucking thing.' "Yes, well, if the Queen requests, we have to obey, don't we?" He said mockingly to Bill, her current brownnoser of choice. "Tell me, what's that smell? Ahhhh yes that would be you old boy. It's hard to wash that smell off of you when you've been up the Queen's ass for so long."

Sookie glared daggers at Eric, but said nothing. She knew better than to retort with anything after all the time she knew him. One of the things that Eric loved most with Sookie was the banter, even when it was filled with anger. She decided it wasn't worth giving him what he wanted now. Even though his face didn't show it, he was slightly disappointed that she didn't take the bait.

Bill ignored Eric's rudeness, as it was nothing new, knowing it would be better to just continue and finish the meeting as soon as possible. He got the prize after all anyway. "You haven't been asked to do much Eric, just a monetary donation and three contestants. We've gotten the money, but not the contestants. You need to give the names to me tonight Eric. I can't wait any longer."

Eric saw Sookie flinch when Bill mentioned the need for the contestants. He wondered how the human side of her was dealing with the knowledge that not only something like these games existed in her world, but that she had to be involved in planning them. However, he knew, maybe better than anyone else, that her humanity had waned a little over the years, due to her repeated adventures in the world of supernaturals. He actually wondered how long it would be before she asked Bill to turn her.

"Decisions, decisions... Who to pick? Ugh, fine, the next three people that walk through that door will be my contestants." Eric said bored. It really didn't matter to him who they would be, because they'd be dead soon enough. According to the rules of the games, only one human could survive. And since he had no desire to train, give advice or otherwise help the poor saps who would be his contestants, they likely would die quickly and he could then just enjoy the festivities.

"What if a child walks in? Bill!" Sookie cried out under her breath because she knew that the people in the restaurant couldn't know what they were talking about.

Eric thought about it for a moment. He knew he'd look like a fool if he sent a child into the arena, or worse, like he was mocking the event, and hence gain the ire of the Queen, something he didn't need or want. The same would go with an elderly person, a severely obese person, or just anyone not at least physically fit on some level. "Okay, the next three people that walk through that door between the ages of eighteen and forty who appear to be physically able to participate will be my choices. You will get no better than that." Eric said, but looking solely at Sookie, letting her know that was his final word. She nodded ever so slightly in his direction to let him know she understood. She was slightly relieved at this prospect because most of the people she worked with were already working tonight and the others should not be coming in, especially not on a night like tonight, her brother Jason was in Hotshot helping his wife Crystal's uncle with building some cages, for what she didn't want to know, and her best friend Tara was supposed to be out on a date with her boyfriend Eggs. They'd never come here on a date; too many inquisitive and gossipy people at Merlotte's.

And so the waiting game began as a lull in the dinner crowd occurred at that very moment. It was as if fate was laughing at this situation and them. The rain had intensified outside as well during their conversation, no doubt keeping the rest of the dinner crowd at bay. Sookie herself initially had thought about canceling going to the meeting because of the imminent torrential downpour, but in the end she knew she just wanted to get this all over with.

After about ten minutes of almost unbearable silence between the trio, the door finally opened, revealing a man and a woman, the Rattrays. Mack, a balding, hooked-nosed, thin and scrawny excuse for a man and Denise, a dirty blond, fake boobed, short woman wearing an outfit that a hooker would blush in, were considered scum, even by the scum of Bon Temps. Sookie couldn't help but have the tiniest of smiles creep upon her face as a sense of overwhelming relief washed over her. These two were bad news. How they currently weren't in jail was beyond her, what with all the crimes they had committed. Maybe they were bribing one of the local officials or officers. This was Bon Temps, it wouldn't be unheard of. One thing was for sure though, they would not be missed.

Eric caught the slight smile on Sookie's face and it angered him. He knew she was pleased that these two walked through the door. There was a time when he would have done anything to put a smile on her beautiful face, but she chose Bill. After Eric had lost his memory because of some crazed witches and she took him in, he fell for her utterly and completely, he let her into his world and his heart like he hadn't done since he loved his human wife over a thousand years ago. Even when he gained his memory back, he still loved her, actually begged her to stay with him and be _his_ bride. She threw all of it back in his face saying that he was nothing more than a sweet fantasy that she got to experience, that their exchange of blood intensified her attraction to him, but that was all it was, attraction, not love, at least not on her end. She had fallen in love with Bill first and couldn't get him out of her mind or her heart. Sometimes Eric wondered if he had met her first, would she be married to him now, but it didn't matter because that's not what happened. And now all he was left with after their brief affair was a broken heart, bitterness, and a need to distance himself from his feelings. So if he got to stick it to her and Bill occasionally, it was all the better. All he could hope for now was that the next person who walked through that door was someone that Sookie cared for; to make her feel some of the pain that he went through, still was going through, after she left him.

After about ten more minutes of nothing, Eric saw his wish come true as all the color drained from Sookie's face as she saw the next person to walk through the door. Eric couldn't contain the sinister smirk that now befell his own face as he realized that whoever just walked through the door was someone close to her, someone she cared about. He couldn't wait to turn around and see who it was. But, he before he did so, she spoke. "No! Not Olivia! Eric please, I'm begging you, not Olivia. She's been through so much. Please, pick the next person, not her."

"Ahhh, but that's not what we agreed upon, now is it _Mrs. Compton_." Eric said the last part with spite. "Now, let's see who this Olivia is…"

Eric turned around to see a very attractive woman close up her semi-broken umbrella and place it in the umbrella urn at the front of the restaurant. She looked to be in her late teens, early twenties, maybe? He had a hard time telling ages now with the miracles of modern science and make-up. She had a flattering shade of golden blonde/light brown hair which was pulled into a high ponytail that cascaded down to her shoulder blades, beautiful light green eyes, a generous perky chest, long toned legs and a genuine warm smile on her face as she eagerly waved a quick hello to Sookie, who looked like she was about to vomit. She also was wearing the signature Merlotte's uniform, white tee shirt with logo and black short shorts, which clung to her curves as they had clearly been soaked by the rainstorm outside. Obviously this was a co-worker of Sookie's, but it occurred to him that he had never met her before. Was she new? And so, turning back round to face Sookie and Bill he asked, "Who's the unlucky lady?"

Sookie couldn't stop the tears that were springing to her eyes. She cleared her throat and answered simply, "Her name is Olivia Williams."

"And?" Eric asked, curious about what connection Sookie had to this young woman.

"And what Eric! You're writing her death sentence here, what the hell do you care to know any more than that?" Sookie sneered defiantly through clenched teeth as quietly as her anger would allow. She knew he was fishing for what their connection was, why this was bothering her so. Well, he'd have to ask someone else because she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"I suppose you're right, I don't care." Eric replied, a self-satisfied smirk now on his face as he leaned back, placing his hands behind his head, trying to make it appear like he didn't care about either the girl or Sookie.

Bill, knowing Olivia himself and how much Sookie cared for the girl, said, "Eric, if you truly don't care who your contestants are, what difference would it make if you choose someone else? Olivia is a good person. She's been a good friend to Sookie, and to me. But not only that, she's had a lot of pain in her life. Be a decent guy for once and pick someone else."

Eric leaned towards the two, a dark expression upon his face as he said, "Oh, I see how it is. This girl, because she's a close friend of yours, should be spared, but you were almost giddy that the other two walked through the door." Eric started to say before Sookie cut him off.

"I was not giddy at the thought of sending someone to their death Eric." Sookie growled at him under her breath, although she couldn't deny to herself that she was indeed relieved at the sight of the Rattrays entering Merlotte's.

"No, maybe giddy was a bit strong of a word, but you can't sit there and honestly tell me that you would be sorry to see those two gone." Eric replied, knowing he was right.

After a moment's pause, Sookie finally relented and said, "No, I wouldn't. They're horrible people who have done horrible things Eric, but Olivia…" Sookie turned her face towards the front of the restaurant, her expression softening as she looked upon her friend who had gone up to the bar to talk to Sam. "Eric you just can't pick her. Olivia just can't…"

Now it was Eric's turn to cut her off. "A life is a life, whether or not _you_ deem it worthy to continue or not."

Sookie opened her mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. He was right. No matter who was chosen, there was a life in the balance. Who _were_ they to decide? But, it didn't mean that she had to be fine with Eric choosing a friend of hers. "I will never forgive you for this Eric Northman." Sookie finally said, hate shining in her normally warm eyes.

"I'm counting on that." Eric replied, but not with as much enthusiasm as he had hoped. He needed something to drive a permanent wedge between him and the half fairy who had stolen his heart. Too many times he let hope back into his heart that she would come back to him and each time she ran back to Bill. He needed to shut this door. Doing this, picking this girl who obviously meant something to Sookie, it was the perfect way to cut her from his life. He knew she would never forgive him for this and he needed to make sure that would happen.

"Well, it seems that you have your names now Bill. If you two don't mind, I have to coordinate rounding up my contestants and getting them to Fangtasia to hold there until the games begin." Eric said as he started texting Pam to get over the Merlotte's to help him bring these three fools back to the bar. His car wasn't big enough.

Sookie slipped out of the booth, not looking at Eric or saying another word to him. In her eyes, he was dead to her. Bill sighed and nodded to Eric in acceptance of Eric's choice and followed his wife out the door. He knew there would be no changing Eric's mind, especially not in this case.

…

Eric met up with Pam in the parking lot shortly after. Thankfully the rain let up soon after that girl Olivia entered the restaurant.

"Pam, I want you to take the two hood rats I described to you in my text with you in your car, but be careful, I smell vampire blood on them; a lot of vampire blood. In fact I think they may be the drainers we were looking for. Be careful; they may have silver on them." Eric said to his child.

"Oh, lucky me. And let me guess, the other contestant is some overweight, buck-toothed, lazy-eyed hillbilly female." Pam said as she rolled her eyes.

"Pam, does it matter who the other person is? They'll all be dead in a matter of days. Just do your job and get those two, okay." Eric said with authority and menace in his voice. He hated that he had to be like that with Pam, but she really was lazy and only seemed to step up the plate when she felt threatened.

"Of course Eric." Pam replied, bowing her head in submission.

Eric then added before walking over to his car to wait for Olivia, "They should be done drinking soon enough and easy prey. But, like I said, keep a lookout for any silver." He may get annoyed at his child, but he loved her, and certainly didn't want her to be harmed.

Pam nodded her head before going back to her car to wait for the Rattrays.

…

Eric watched from his rear view mirror as Pam easily glamoured the Rattrays into coming with her to her car, which was parked way out of view from anyone in Merlotte's. No one would be the wiser that they left with Pam. He suspected though that no one would care who they left with anyway, or if they ever came back.

Now that that was done, all he had to do was wait for the girl… Olivia. 'I have to stop thinking about her name.' He thought to himself. Thinking of her name made her a person, made her somebody. No, she would just be a girl from now on. In truth, he was glad now that Sookie didn't tell him the girl's sob story. The less he knew about that girl the better. That way when she died, it really would be no big deal, at least not to him. He did think to himself though, 'Such a shame to waste such a beautiful creature before tasting her.' However, the rules stated that no contestants would be touched or bitten by a vampire within 48 hours of the event.

This whole situation seemed a bit surreal to Eric. To be honest, and contrary to popular belief, Eric rarely killed anymore, at least in terms of being a vampire. The time in his existence where he would kill during feedings ended well within his first hundred years or so of being a vampire. After that, sure there was the occasional blood lust that would take over, but that too ended over five hundred years ago. Now, he only killed when absolutely necessary, like in order to save himself, to save others he considered worthy, or in fulfilling his command as Sheriff of Area 5. He certainly never killed just for sport, as he was being asked to participate in now. Here he was being tasked with picking three unfortunate souls for these games. He couldn't help but find it a little bit ironic that the Authority, the same body that was putting a leash on vampire behavior, was sanctioning these games with the Queen and actually requesting that the sheriffs in Louisiana pick the contestants to lead to their doom. But, then again, living over a thousand years, he'd seen a lot of strange things.

…

It was well after one in the morning when the girl finally walked out of Merlotte's, waving her goodbyes to her co-workers, cheerfully, with the same genuine smile that she gave Sookie earlier in the night. She let out a sweet sounding laugh and gave Lafayette a gentle slap on his arm after he no doubt said something completely inappropriate, yet funny to her. Eric was familiar enough with the drug selling fry cook to be sure that was the gist of the exchange. It was clear from these interactions she was well liked and would be missed. He would have rather have not seen that.

After the others were finally far enough away to not see him, Eric got out of his car, careful to stay in the shadows so she wouldn't notice him as he followed her, trying to find the most opportune time apprehend her.

As it turns out, it appeared that the girl was renting one of the little shacks near the restaurant that Sam Merlotte called a rental properties, although Eric had to admit, the one the girl was walking up to appeared to be in better condition than the others, looking freshly painted and well-maintained. She was about to put her key in the lock when he finally got close enough to speak to her.

"Nice place you have here." Eric said, cringing at how hokey he sounded, but really, did it matter what he said to her? No, he just needed her to turn around so he could glamour her before she entered her home.

"Oh, my goodness, I didn't know anyone was behind me." I responded as I felt my heart try to jump out of my chest upon seeing the large handsome man in front of me. Based on his looks and the description my friend Sookie had given me about one of her past boyfriends, I could only assume that the man was Eric Northman. How many blonde Adonis's could there be in the area? 'Shit!' I thought to myself. 'He's a vampire! Don't look into his eyes.' And so, I quickly turned my gaze down to the ground, hoping that he'd leave as quickly as he showed up.

"Don't you want to go for a ride with me?" Eric said as he walked slyly towards her, like a predator closing in on his prey.

"No, I think I'm okay right here. Thanks for the offer though." I replied as I quickly turned around, fear overtaking my senses, and tried nervously to put my key in the lock. Unfortunately, he grabbed my hand and forced me to turn around.

As soon as he turned me around, he grabbed my face by my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes as he said, "You want to take a ride with me, don't you?"

I tried to fight the invasion into my mind, but a soft haze overtook my senses, making me bend to his will, wanting to do whatever he said. "Yeah, a ride sounds nice." I finally said, submitting to his request.

…

A/N: And so now we finally meet poor Olivia. She has no idea what's about to happen or how her life will change.


	3. Chapter 2: Revelations

Hi Everyone-

Sorry this took longer to get out then I anticipated… My parents came to visit and threw off my writing mojo…

To Tori991: Thank you for being my first review for this story! Reviews really make my day and I'm glad you took the time to let me know you thought the story was worth exploring!

To those who have favorited and followed this story: Thank you! I hope I don't disappoint! I have a lot planned for this story if people would like to continue with it

…

An uncomfortable aching. Fear. Darkness. Confusion. These four things were all I could register in my mind once I started to slowly regain my consciousness.

With my eyes still closed, I felt cold, hard concrete underneath me. 'Arggghhh.' I inwardly groaned to myself. The last time I fell asleep on my concrete floor was when I came home drunk from a house party my friend Shayna was having while her parents were out of town. Holy cow did I ever have the worst hangover the next day. I vowed from that day forward that I would never _ever_ drink like that again and I never had. So why was I on the floor now? And, while I felt stiff and uncomfortable from sleeping on the floor, I didn't necessarily feel like I was hung over; you know, no cottonmouth, no head pounding headache, no need to vomit and although something smelled awful, it wasn't coming from me, like bad breath or the like. I slowly rolled myself up into sitting position and rubbed my arms while still keeping my eyes shut. For some reason they felt so heavy right now.

'Wait a minute… what _did_ I do last night?' I thought again, to myself. My brain hurt trying to remember last night. Thinking real hard on it, I finally remembered getting to work late because the rainstorm made driving back from Shreveport really difficult. I remembered feeling kinda put out because I wasn't even supposed to be working last night, in fact I never worked nights, but Holly's son Wade got sick and she needed to stay home. Holly was a good friend and mother; how could I say no? So instead of walking into Merlotte's all grumpy, I decided to put on a happy face and just get over it. I knew I was lucky to have a decent paying job that allowed me the flexibility I needed with a great boss and good friends to work with. With all the bad things that happened in my short life, I always tried to stay positive, even when it was hard. It was one of the things that my mother always said to strive for before… well, anyway…

I remembered that it was a relatively slow night after I got there because of the weather, but I still made decent tips, even after getting stiffed by one table. Normally I worked days, which didn't provide the best tips, because people didn't tend to drive up their bar bill as high during the day. I didn't really have a choice though because I was taking college classes at night at the community college in Shreveport. I would have preferred going to a four year university, but I couldn't afford it, so I figured I could get my associate's degree first and then finish at a four year college, cutting my school expense by a lot. I remembered leaving work; walking out with Lafayette who for some reason felt the need to tell me, in infinite detail, about his latest date, making me blush ten shades of red. It wasn't that I was necessarily inexperienced, but Lafayette could write the book on kink. Then, I remembered saying goodbye to my friends and heading over to my place. That's when my memory started getting fuzzy again. I pushed through the fuzz though and remembered getting to my door… and then… more fuzz. 'What the heck?' I thought, 'I got into my house, right?' But then, after really straining for the memory I realized I never did make it into my house. I had a visitor… an unwanted visitor.

I popped open my eyes in fright as I remembered who my nighttime visitor was… Eric Northman. More fear hit me when I realized that even with my eyes open, all I saw was pitch black. Even in the dead middle of the night, there was always some form of light coming through the sheer curtains I had to cover my windows. What my curtains provided in privacy, they didn't in light obstruction. I preferred it that way, with the sunlight being my alarm clock in the mornings.

'Am I dead? Is this what death is like? Did Eric kill me last night? Why would he kill me? I didn't even know the guy.' I couldn't help but wonder to myself as I started to panic. My breathing became more labored as I started to freak out.

As I started to panic, I heard someone else moan, like they were just getting up too. "He-he-hello? Is there someone else here?" I decided to ask since the moan didn't sound ominous, though I asked still somewhat hesitantly.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" The other voice, a male voice, said, after noticing the distinct lack of lighting.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. "Do I know you? What's your name?" I asked, trying to figure out who that was and what was going on.

"The name's Mack Rattray. Who the hell are you and _where_ the hell are you? I can't see shit." He finally replied.

Mack Rattray? Shoot, I probably was dead. He was one of the worst criminals in Bon Temps. Just my luck… I'm stuck in the dark afterlife with this asshole. Sighing first to myself and my unfortunate predicament, I finally replied, "It's Olivia Williams, you know, I waited on you and your wife last night at Merlotte's." I couldn't help but remember them, seeing as they drank themselves silly last night and then stiffed me on my tip.

"Oh yeah, right, you've got that nice tight ass and the kind of tits that my wife still don't have even after paying that highfalutin doctor a shit load of money for a new set. Hey listen; do you know where the hell we are? And, can you turn on the lights?" He asked, almost acting like this wasn't his first time at this rodeo.

'Yup, he's an asshole.' I thought to myself before answering, "Ummm, no. I don't know where we are or how we got here. What's the last thing you remember from last night?" I asked, hoping he'd remember something, but to be honest, I wasn't quite holding my breath. He and Denise had drank… _a lot_. If I drank as much as they had I would've been comatose right now.

"Well, Denise and I drank a shitload of beer, and then… Aw shit, I don't know. I can't remember." He replied just before I heard him undo his zipper and start peeing. I couldn't believe he had just done that because we couldn't see anything. That's when we both started to hear screaming.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh! Fucking shit! Who the fuck is peeing on me?" A female voice shot out of the dark. My guess was that it was Denise.

"Oooohh honey, I's didn't know that you were there. I can't see shit in here." Mack said, confirming my suspicion that it was Denise.

"Fuck Mack! You peed on me!" Denise yelled while I cringed in disgust.

"Oh fuck you bitch. It ain't like it's the first time you ever been peed on." Mack replied now, getting all agitated at being called out on his foolishness.

"Yeah, by a baby you fool, not a grown ass man!" Denise started to yell before I cut her off.

"_**Ooooo-kay…**_ Listen Denise, it's Olivia, your waitress from last night. Do you remember anything about last night or how we all ended up here?" I asked, partly because I just wanted some answers and partly because I didn't need the Rattrays to get in a brawl in the dark right now. I'd seen them get into it at Merlotte's over a lot less.

"Huh? What? No. I mean, we was at Merlotte's and then…then… I don't know… well, I guess now we're here. Shit, I don't remember. Where the hell _are_ we and why is it so dang dark?" She replied, a little more fear in her voice than was in her husband's. I wondered if maybe she was a hair smarter than him.

It was at this point that the lights were turned on, blinding all three of us by the abruptness of it. I had to shut my eyes quickly to shield them. After a brief moment, I placed my hands over my eyes so I could try to ease them into seeing in the light again.

Before I could fully focus on anything, I heard a man's voice, "Well, don't you all look like shit. Pam, we'll have to get them cleaned up before we present them to the Queen, especially the wet one."

"That one over there should clean up nicely. You sure you don't want to keep her around and find someone else? It's not too late." The woman, Pam, purred to the man who was slowly coming into focus… Eric Northman. If memory served from Sookie's stories, she was his child, and another vampire. 'This is just getting even better.' I thought bitterly to myself. It was also at this point that the realization struck me that the reason I couldn't remember how I got here was that I must have been glamoured last night. 'What else don't I remember?' I thought to myself as I shuddered with fear at the thought.

As the two people standing before us were coming into focus, so was the rest of the room. We were in what I could only guess was some sort of basement. The windowless walls were made of cinderblock and the floor was indeed concrete, just like mine at home, although not the same color since I had stained my floor which gave it a beautiful patina. Some other glaring differences between my home and this place was the fact that mine didn't come with a chain-link fence like this room had that was holding us captive, or the chains hanging from the walls which I guess we should be grateful that we weren't currently being restrained in, or the miscellaneous weaponry displayed on the wall on the side of the fence Eric and Pam were on. 'Glad to see that medieval weaponry was making a comeback. You really just don't see enough of it these days.' I thought sarcastically to myself.

Before I had a chance to ask my own questions, Mack blurted out, "Hey now, this ain't about taking V again, now is it? It's been a long while since we did that stuff. We've been trying real hard to get clean. It's just so good." He then licked his lips and wiped his hand against them as well as he thought of the stuff. Even though I knew practically next to nothing about drug addiction, I could tell he was addicted to V.

"Shut up Mack! Don't you know you don't say shit until he talk to you? You trying to get us killed you stupid son-a-bitch!" Denise yelled at her husband. 'Yeah, she's the smarter one.' I thought as I watched this play out.

Eric put his hand up towards Pam to let her know that he would field Mack's questions as he opened up the door to our cage and replied, "Actually, you aren't here because of the V-selling that you've been doing." He was then cut off by Mack.

"I didn't say we was selling V. You think we selling V? Naw… we don't do that shit. Who been telling you that? Did Lafayette tell you that? You know you can't trust that swishy queen." Mack started to say, rather unconvincingly in my opinion. But then I thought, 'What does Lafayette have to do with that stuff? Maybe I don't want to know.'

Eric rushed at vampire speed over to Mack, situating his face menacingly in front of the redneck fool, making Mack cower backward in fear before he spat out, hate and malice in his voice, "Do you think that we are fools? We can _smell_ the blood on you. You both are drainers, in fact. I suspect that you're the drainers that we've been looking for over the past two weeks. How the two of _you_ evaded us for that long is beyond me; luck perhaps. But, it appears that your luck has run out."

"But…but…but… you said that we weren't here for V. What are we here for then?" Mack asked, now showing the appropriate amount of fear.

Eric stood back up, his full posture making the three of us stay still in fear as he turned to face Pam, giving her a sinister smile, which she returned wholeheartedly before he turned back to face us and said, "You three have been chosen to participate in The Carnage Games."

"The Carnage Games? Is that like some sort of new TV game show?" Denise asked hopefully. How she could be hopeful at a time like this was beyond me, especially with a name that had the word 'Carnage' in it. We were screwed.

"Not exactly." Eric replied, purposefully drawing out the process of telling us what was going on. He did enjoy making others squirm.

"Then what is it like? Do we win anything?" Denise blurted out; her head was pounding now from her hangover and was causing her to have a looser tongue than usual. She just couldn't think straight and truthfully just wanted to get this conversation done with.

I rolled my eyes when I heard Denise ask if there was a prize. Was she nuts? Here we were locked in some basement dungeon, no beds, no food, no bathroom, no damn light even and she's asking if we're going home with a parting gift.

Eric saw the attractive girl roll her eyes and a small smile flashed on his face. She evidently was brighter than the other two in the room. He returned his attention to the horrid smelling woman and replied, "Oh yes, they'll be a substantial prize for the winner. The winner gets to keep their life."

"How many winners can there be?" Denise asked slowly as we all started to realize that our situation was a lot worse than we could have imagined.

"Only one." Eric replied with a self-satisfied smirk.

"And everyone else who didn't win? What do they get?" Denise pushed, evidently needing to hear out loud what I already put together in my mind.

"The rest of you will die. I suggest you play the game very well." Eric said before adding, "Pam, take these filthy humans to the bathroom and make sure they are made presentable. We have to transport them to the arena tonight."

"Of course Eric. Oh, by the way, you don't mind if I assist in the bathing of that one, do you?" She purred with lust in her eyes as she looked my way. A look of horror flashed across my face. I couldn't contain the feelings of fear and repulsion that immediately hit me like a ton of bricks at the thought of one of my captors wanting to cop a feel or worse while I showered.

Eric viewed the girl and saw the terror on her face before looking straight into her eyes and said, "You haven't said anything since Pam and I came down here. Why so quiet? Don't _you_ have any interesting or thought provoking questions like the others?" Even though he asked the questions with a sarcastic tone, he truly was curious at her lack of running off at the mouth. Sookie would've been on her fourth soliloquy by now.

It was obvious that he was goading me, trying to rile me up and get me to do something stupid. And so, before I knew it anger quickly replaced my fear and was now boiling inside of me, wanting me to yell and cuss and tell him where to go. Fortunately, the rational side of me recognized that I still knew next to nothing about what was going on and I needed to keep as level of a head as I could until I could figure out how to get out of this mess. Taking a deep calming breath, I replied, "I know all I think you're going to let us know right now. We're up shit's creek without a paddle, hell; we don't even have the fucking boat at this point. You obviously haven't told us everything yet because you've either deemed it not the appropriate time to or you're planning on springing it on us. No matter what the situation is, you're controlling it right now. I'm not going to sit here and beg for my life or cry you a river because it's not going to get me anywhere anyway. For now my only choice is to go with the flow."

"Don't you at least want to know why _you're_ here with these low-lifes? Why you've been chosen to play a game where you'll probably die." Eric asked with a dark look, taunting her further, trying to see if she'd cry, scream, beg for answers.

I inwardly cringed at his words and I was sure the two vampires could tell my heart was about to beat out of my chest in fear, but nonetheless I tried my best to keep my poker face when I replied only with, "Yeah, I want to know. Who wouldn't?"

If I thought that saying more or asking more would help, I would have, but Sookie had told me a lot of stories about vampires and of this vampire in particular. From those stories I knew that the choice to tell me would be his and his alone; that being the complete and total prick that he was, he'd either tell me or not based solely on his wants, needs, desires, etc. And furthermore, he probably already knew if he would or not. He had put Sookie in those types of situations more times than she could count.

Eric and Pam both looked at the girl strangely. Even though she obviously was afraid, and rightfully so, she showed a remarkable amount of self-control and intelligence for one so young. For a moment, they both wondered if she was more than human, but quickly brushed those thoughts aside because they knew she wasn't. While she did smell good for a human, she definitely did not smell supernatural.

Eric taking in her responses to his questions decided that he would not tell her why she was there. He turned his attention instead to his progeny and said, "Pam, you know the rules, contestants are to be handled relatively unscathed until the games, so no touching, no looking, etc. Understood?"

"Yes Eric. Pity though…" Pam replied, a fake pout crossing her face as she motioned for the three of us to head towards the bathroom that was located on the other side of the fence.

As I followed, I was relieved that I wouldn't be manhandled by Pam, but was angry at the same time. While I knew I was owed an explanation about why I was here in this horrible situation, that asshole wasn't going to tell me. Sookie had said the man liked to fuck with people's minds, but this was absolutely ridiculous.

…

I had never wanted to cry so hard than when I stepped into that shower, letting my tears get carried away by the soft spray of the water flowing from the shower head. I knew I couldn't though; Sookie had told me too much about vampires and their ways. As terrified as I was I knew that I would have to bury the emotions that I had swirling about in my overwrought mind right now and save them for a rainy day. Vampires had super sensitive hearing, or so she said. They would be able to hear me having a breakdown in the shower and no doubt use that against me, if nothing else but to mock me. Also, they made a point that we needed to look presentable. I wasn't going to look presentable with eyes red and swollen from crying. And, for all I knew, how we looked could be a criteria in these blasted games. At this point, I really didn't know. All I did know was that I was not going to lose. I was going to play the game like no other. How I was going to do that I'd have to figure out along the way. I just knew that I didn't want to die; not like this. I'd have to rely on the stories Sookie told me to help me navigate this minefield I was currently thrown into. How was I to guess that all those times that Sookie poured her heart out to me about the horrible things that she went through at the hands of these creatures that I'd have to use the knowledge as a make-shift bible of sorts of survival?

After I was done washing and drying myself, I put on the clothes that Pam had laid out for me. The undergarments took me a moment to figure out, seeing as I had never worn garters and lacey thigh-high stockings. I wondered how much something like that even cost. I had very little money, so clothing was a luxury that I could only spend the bare minimum on. Walmart was my clothing store of necessity, not of choice. After getting the undergarments on, I lifted up the pale blue tank style dress and placed it in front of me as I looked in the mirror. I noticed that it accented my eyes and wondered if she planned on this for me, if I was being monitored for a while for these crazy games or if it was an unhappy coincidence. Shrugging to myself, because in the end, did it really matter one way or another; I put the dress on and was happy to see that it at least was actually comfortable to wear. Next I slipped on the nude peep-toe patent leather high heels, which happened to be my exact size. 'How do they know my size?' I wondered, again not knowing if I wanted to really know the answer to that question. Finally admitting to myself that I couldn't stall in the bathroom anymore because there was really nothing left to do, I opened the door to find Pam waiting for me, looking bored out of her gourd.

"Well you certainly took long enough. Let's get you upstairs to finish you up quick. We need to get going." Pam said as she took my arm, not gently, but not forcefully, and guided me to a dressing room upstairs.

…

'This must be where the dancers get ready.' I thought to myself as I looked around the small room walled with mirrors and makeup stations. While I had never been to Fangtasia, plenty of customers at Merlotte's had enough stories to tell about the stripper/dancers that worked here. Evidently they were as beautiful as they were limber and uninhibited.

"Sit there and face the mirror." Pam commanded, pointing to the makeup station at the back of the room.

I followed her instruction and sat down, looking at my reflection in the mirror. 'Is this the last time I'll see myself?' I wondered, sadly.

"Oh don't look so glum. When I'm done with you, you'll look the best you've ever looked." Pam said as she began to do my make-up. 'As if that's supposed to make me feel better about my upcoming death?' I thought to myself, trying real hard not to roll my eyes in anger while she began putting some foundation on my face.

Having nothing else to do, I just zoned out while Pam worked quietly on my make-up and eventually my hair as well. Truth be told, I really didn't care if I looked like a Victoria's Secret model or a flipping clown when she was done. I just resented the fact that I had to do any of this in the first place.

Pam brought me out of my haze by saying, "Well? What do you think?"

I refocused my attention to my reflection in the mirror and had to admit that I was amazed at the transformation. However, I couldn't help but be struck at the irony of it all. How was I supposed to be happy about something so superficial and trivial when I was walking into a dangerous unknown that more than likely would lead to my untimely demise? I knew I shouldn't anger or insult the vampire who just worked on me though, seeing as I wasn't looking to die right now, so I replied, probably more weary sounding than I intended, "It looks amazing. You're really talented to make me look this nice." While what I said was true, I stopped short of saying 'thank you so much' as I would to a friend or beautician, because what I really wanted to say 'fuck you very much' instead.

"I know. I'm a fricking genius with a make-up brush and curling iron. It's a gift; one that you should be thankful to have experienced in your short and pathetic life. Although I have to say, it's always more fun when the subject you're working on actually has the ability to look better. Your two friends in the next room…" She said before I cut her off.

"Those two are _not_ my friends." I said with disgust.

"Well, at least you have some good taste then too, but anyway, with those two, it's like dressing a pig in a three piece suit. In the end, it's still a pig." She said, finishing her train of thought.

I decided to press my luck and ask a question or two about what was going on since Pam seemed to be in an okay mood, compared to how Sookie had described her in the past. "Pam, speaking of pigs, if we're just pigs to the slaughter, why _are_ you taking the time to dress us up?"

Pam smiled at the question and replied, "The Queen has requested that all the contestants arrive looking their absolute best. So there you are." And after a moment she added with a lusty smile, "Though it really is a shame Eric picked you for the games. We really need a new dancer here at Fangtasia. You could've generated some good money… for us. But enough about that, up you go. You need to get into the car; everyone else is waiting for you."

At that I got up wordlessly and followed Pam out the door, to what exactly, I still didn't know.

…


	4. Chapter 3 Apprehensions

Hi Everyone Who's Reading This,

Well, no excuse here except that life just got crazy busy. I'll be finishing this story, and Mine, so if you can, please bear with the occasional blips in time. Sometimes life gets in the way and sometimes my muse decides to up and have a bender, but they will always come back. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait for updates.

Thank you so much to those of you who have favorited and alerted this story. It means a lot that you want to see more!

To my latest reviewer, Nemu-Chan: Thank you for liking the idea! There are multiple reasons why Olivia is so calm in these bad situations, 1) Sookie has told her all her stories, kind of creating a vampire-bible for humans so-to-speak for Olivia which has given Olivia insight into how to react to vampire, and more importantly Eric situations. 2) Olivia's past, which will be touched upon in this chapter. And 3) There'll be one more reason to be revealed later. But, her calmness and ability to work out situations is sort of a plot point. I hope you continue to read and review!

As always everyone, please let me know your thoughts and feel free to ask questions. Thanks!

Kilera

…

"Darling, it's time to go. The limo's waiting outside for us." Sookie heard Bill shout from the downstairs foyer as she sat on an exquisite oyster-colored velvet tufted ottoman in front of her antique mirrored mahogany vanity in their spacious bedroom suite. While any other woman would have been beyond delighted to live in such comfort, no… luxury, she couldn't help but feel shame and utter disgust for herself at the moment. After all, here she was, her make-up flawlessly superb, dressed to the nines wearing some expensive designer, one whose name she couldn't remember right now, her hair done in a perfect chignon so as to highlight her neck which was adorned in the reddest rubies she had ever seen that Bill insisted she wear, to show his wealth, no doubt, and most of all, here she sat…safe. She took a small sip of water, being careful to not smudge up her blood red MAC lipstick, from the Waterford crystal glass that had been sitting on an Italian marble coaster on her vanity as she prayed to God, hoping he'd hear her this time, to spare her friend Olivia's life.

A few years ago, nothing would've made her happier than to sit here in this beautiful house filled with these beautiful things by her loving husband's side, no worries about money, or her safety, or anything else for that matter. But now, she couldn't help but feel unworthy of all that lay before her. For now here she was, responsible for helping to bring about the deaths of 29 people all in some misguided attempt to cull the bloodlust of the vampires of Louisiana in some utterly repulsive games set up by none other than herself and her husband. Here she sat knowing that her very good friend Olivia could die not because she deserved it in any way, shape or form, but rather because Eric wanted to get back at _her_ for not returning his love and Bill for winning her hand. Sookie wondered after she and Bill left Merlotte's if she should have fought harder, pleaded more to save Olivia from this fate, but she knew to the bottom of her core the more she begged Eric to let her friend go, the deeper the pile of shit Olivia would be in. The only thing she could do for Olivia now was help her as discretely as she could during the games. Having to help set up the games, she had knowledge of where she could help and could only hope that what she could do would be enough. Sookie glanced at her reflection one more time in the mirror before attempting to reply to Bill. She wanted to see if she looked any different because she definitely felt different; darker, heavier, like the world was on her shoulders. She couldn't help but find the feelings she had ironic. She knew when she married her husband that there would be sacrifices she would have to make in order for their love to continue, she just never counted that one of those sacrifices would be the rest of her soul. Losing something of magnitude would usually lighten your load, but not in this case.

Just before Sookie was about to reply to Bill, her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Sam. For a moment, she considered letting it go to voicemail; not really wanting to deal with the rest of the world right now. She had an out from this conversation because she had already told him that she and Bill were going on a mini vacation, her lie to cover her absence during the games. But then again, with the history that Bon Temps had, she thought it would be wiser to bite the bullet and answer. You never did know if something else could be going on, and it was always better to be in the know than not.

"Honey, Sam's calling me. I'll be down after I see what he wants." Sookie yelled down to Bill.

"Okay, hurry though. The Queen hates tardiness." Bill yelled back up before heading out the door to the limo. He normally didn't have to wait too long on Sookie; she didn't have to do much to look beautiful. But, to be perfectly honest, he didn't necessarily mind a small delay this time because he really wasn't looking forward to the upcoming spectacle. Anticipating some sort of drama to occur, what with all of the high ranking and influential vampires due to be in attendance, he winced at the thought. A_ lot_ was riding on this for him; actually for both him and his wife. If it went well, the Queen would definitely look favorably upon him but if it didn't… well, let's just say it wouldn't be pretty.

Taking a breath before answering, Sookie then pressed answer on her phone and said, "Hi Sam, we're getting ready to leave right now. Is this something that can wait?"

"Oh, sorry Sook, I hate to bother you. I know you've wanted to take this trip with Bill for a while, but this'll just take a minute and it's kinda important." Sam replied as Sookie thought about the truth of his words; she did talk a lot lately at work about wanting to go on a vacation with Bill; somewhere with white sand beaches, crystal blue waters and frozen fruity drinks with tiny umbrellas in them served by attractive tan cabana boys. This little 'getaway' was as far away from that idyllic scene than she could get.

Sam then continued, breaking Sookie's train of thought, "Have you heard from Olivia? She asked me a few days ago to stop by today because she had a buyer for that armoire she refinished and needed help to load it into the buyer's truck. The buyer and I waited for over an hour while I tried calling all over to find her, but I couldn't get a hold of her, or you actually."

Sookie replied, "Oh, well I was at The Savoy Beauty Salon in Arcadia for most of the day and they frown upon having your phone on you while they work their magic. They claim it's too distracting. Anyway, I just got home a half an hour ago from there and haven't had time to check my messages yet. You say that no one knows where she is." The truth was she didn't bring her phone with her as she was trying to avoid receiving exactly this type of call. Sookie hated that she had to play dumb with her close friend, but she couldn't share her knowledge of where Olivia was. That would be signing her, Bill's and Sam's death warrants because she knew Sam would try to do anything to save his old friend's daughter. After Olivia lost both of her parents who were good friends with Sam, he tried his best to watch out for her. If anything happened to her, Sookie knew Sam would be devastated. He looked after Olivia like she was his own family.

"Yeah. I'm really worried. Sook, you know how responsible she is, especially when it comes to making money. She had negotiated a great price for that piece. Word of mouth about her work will definitely help her sell more of her refinished pieces and help her raise money for her schooling. I know she knows that she can't be fucking around by not showing up to take care of a buyer. Since I had a key to her place because I own it, I was able to finish the deal for her. And, I made up some bullshit but believable excuse about why she wasn't there. But… I know something's not right here."

Sookie knew she had to appear to be the normal worried, upset, take charge Sookie that Sam would expect in this situation, or he'd know something was up. So she replied, "No, that doesn't sound like her in the least. I don't like the sound of this, not one bit. Have you reached everyone? What about her Aunt Birdie in Mansfield? She's older than dirt and if something happened to her Olivia would have left in quite a hurry. I can have Bill have one of his people search around for her. Do you think we should stay home and not go on the trip?" Sookie took a gamble on the last part, hoping Sam wouldn't say yes, knowing if she didn't say it though, he's be suspicious.

"No…no…you two should go. It's only been a few hours, and truthfully they were daylight hours and she doesn't really hang with too many people outside of the Merlotte's crowd, especially not at night, no offense." Sam started to say.

"None taken." Sookie replied, knowing all too well what Sam was getting at. Even though she was married to a vampire, she knew that most of them were not like her husband, not in the least.

"I'll just keep checking then. I couldn't get a hold of Lafayette. Maybe he whisked her away on some fool's errand. Truthfully, I forgot about her Great Aunt, so I could check that out too. She could've had a school thing come up unexpectedly like what happened last semester." Sam said, thinking aloud about different scenarios that would make Olivia seemingly vanish, at least ones that didn't involve foul play.

"Keep me posted then Sam. I'll make sure to have my phone on me from now until you tell me she's okay." Sookie replied, cringing at her own words.

"Okay Sook. And, if you hear from her, you let me know too, okay. And tell her to call me." Sam replied.

"Will do. She's a smart girl who doesn't take risks Sam. I'm sure she's gonna be fine." Sookie replied, trying not to get choked up while thinking about Olivia's real situation.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm probably just overreacting, although she'll need a good talking to about leaving a buyer in the lurch. Have fun with Bill in … where did you say you were going again?" Sam replied.

"Orange Beach, Alabama." Sookie simply replied, not wanting to have to expand on her lie any further.

"Yeah, that's right. I heard it's fun there. Anyway, I'm sorry to bother you like this." Sam said.

"Sam, it's no bother. Olivia's my friend too. I want to make sure she's safe as well." Sookie replied, bile rising in her throat from her guilt and self-loathing.

"I know. Well, okay, see you when you get back." Sam said.

"Bye Sam." Sookie replied before hanging up and placing her phone in her Swarovski crystal covered clutch and taking another sip of water to wash down the bile in her throat.

Standing up she moved to exit the room but stopped at the doorway when she realized that she still had the glass of water in her hand. Turning to put it back on the coaster, she instead looked at her perfect reflection in the mirror and threw the expensive glass hard at it, shattering both the expensive glass and the perfect reflected image into a million jagged little pieces on the floor. The shattered mirror bits now accurately reflected just how broken and ugly she felt on the inside. She left the mess on the floor, and further parts of her soul, to join her husband in the limo, who at this point was probably impatiently waiting to get the show on the road. She anticipated getting a lecture from him on why it was important to show up at the Queen's functions on time, but right now, she could care less.

…

Pam led me out the front door of Fangtasia to a humungous stretch Hummer limo parked close by. I had never been in a limo before, not having the money to go in on one for prom, or a girl's night out. I always thought that I'd ride in one someday, maybe my wedding day or at least when I had a little extra cash to splurge on something so nice and fancy for myself, like a really fun girls night out. Now I didn't know if I'd ever see either of those days and it made me incredibly sad especially since this ride was probably going to feel like I was riding shotgun in my own funeral.

Pam opened the door revealing that the Rattrays and Eric were already waiting inside; the Rattrays sitting nervously and extremely close to each other on one end while Eric was busy texting on the other. I couldn't help but notice that Pam was right, even though the Rattrays were showered and dressed in nice clothing; they still managed to have an air of trailer trash about them. It didn't take a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that you can't live the life of sin that they had for as long as they had and not come out looking like you were rode hard and put up wet.

While the Rattrays did nothing to elevate the expensive attire Pam had assembled for them, Eric on the other hand made his expertly tailored well-appointed suit look even more amazing, like he just stepped out of a photo shoot for Esquire. It pained me, it really did, to make the observation, as Eric was the reason I was in this god-awful mess, but I couldn't deny the obvious. I figured I could hate the man while at the same time note that he was beautiful: a beautiful horrible man. Sookie had, on numerous occasions, expressed to me about what a shame it was that the obscenely gorgeous looking man who had the ability for great love and compassion and who had shown that side to her, would too often sink back into his old vampire ways, caring for nothing other than what affected or pleased him, often giving little to no concern for those around him. His inability to let go of his vampire aloofness and give into his humane side was just but a part of why Sookie had to cut him from her life. Bill was able to connect with his feelings easier than Eric. Sookie guessed that it probably was because he was not as old as Eric. But, none the less, Bill's ability to access his more human emotions allowed him to bond with Sookie on a deeper level; one that Sookie couldn't deny and ultimately led them to the deepest of love connections.

Without even bothering to look up from his texting, Eric spoke, authority and annoyance ringing clear through his voice, "It certainly took you long enough. Get in." He too knew that the Queen did not condone tardiness. However, after he finally lifted his head and took a good look at the girl's appearance as she situated herself between the couple and him, he conceded, but only to himself, that it was time well spent. She looked breathtakingly beautiful. 'The Queen would certainly be fine with me being late showing up with a beauty like this.' He thought to himself with a mischievous smirk, knowing where the Queen's sexual tastes lied these days.

Before she shut the door to the vehicle, Pam said with a hurt pout, breaking Eric from the hot lesbian fantasy that he currently had running through his mind between the Queen and the girl, "I can't believe you're making me stay here instead of going with you to the games."

"Pam, you know that not everyone can go. It would attract too much suspicion if all the vampires in Louisiana suddenly were gone for a week. And besides, the club can still make money, a ton of money, with mostly human patronage and needs to stay open. I already told you you'd be compensated for this supposed slight anyway." Eric said annoyance still present in his voice.

"I know all that Eric. It's just that anybody whose anybody in the vampire community will be there. Why can't Chow stay behind instead?" Pam replied, still resolute in her desire to go.

"Because it is my choice. Now go and run my club!" Eric roared with a fierce look on his face that caused his three chosen ones to jump back in fear. Truthfully, he didn't have time for this bickering with his child. Unbeknownst to Pam, he _had_ considered leaving Chow in charge at first, but decided against it as he would never be able to trust Chow as much as his own child. After the whole Longshadow incident, where his once trusted friend and bartender had stolen $60,000 from right under his nose, he vowed never to be played like that again, especially not at his own fucking nightclub.

"Fine!" Pam screamed before slamming the door of the limo, causing a crack in the window, and heading back into Fangtasia at vampire speed. Eric, while sitting blank faced, internally sighed at her display of anger. While she was extremely loyal and smart, she was almost as lazy and self-centered. He hoped that one day Pam would see the wisdom in his decisions concerning her. No matter what she may think right now, he did truly care about his child and knew in the end, leaving her to take care of Fangtasia was what was best for her and him at the moment.

After the scene between the two vampires ended and the car proceeded to drive, the three 'contestants' just sat there and looked at each other, not knowing exactly what they were supposed to do now.

"Put these blindfolds on." Eric instructed irritably as he deftly threw three sets of blindfolds into each their laps at record speed.

Eric noted that as the girl lifted the black blindfold, she couldn't hide the look of apprehension and fear that shot across her face. The couple didn't look much better. Even so, they all obeyed, albeit hesitantly and slowly, yet they all did it, knowing that in the end they'd be stupid not to do what the fierce vampire sitting before them just ordered.

…

I couldn't help but think to myself, 'It's bad enough to be heading into the great unknown, but blindfolded…' I could tell that even the Rattrays, as dim as they really were, were just as freaked out now as I was, judging by the looks on their faces. I knew it wasn't a good sign.

However, even as crazy scared as I was, I knew that acting out would be a colossal mistake, not just from what Sookie had told be about vampires, but also from my own experiences in bad situations. After my father passed away in a freak tractor-trailer accident on one of the highways near Shreveport when I was ten, my mother, despite being the lovely, gracious, kind and gentle woman that she was, had an unbelievable ability of picking _the_ worst men to take up with. To be honest, it was one of the reasons why I dated so rarely and lived vicariously through Lafayette's crazy dating stories. How could I not help but be fearful that I too would inherit her god-awful way of picking the exact wrong type of man to be by my side? If her suitors didn't beat her, they got her hooked on some type of drug. If they didn't do those things, well, then they swindled her out of her money, but then usually beat her if she threatened to go to the cops. I had seen too many men come and go out of our lives who did this to her, until finally the last one beat her to death before I could return home from school. While the rational side of me knew I shouldn't feel guilty about what happened to my mom; after all it wasn't me who beat her to death and it certainly wasn't my decision to let those bastards into our lives, the irrational side of me felt tremendous guilt over not being able to protect her that one final time. The only good thing, if you could call it that, that I took from all those bad situations was that I learned the ability to stay as quiet and unassuming as I could so that I would be able to remain unnoticed by the horrible men, all the while also learning to assess the situations my mother was in and try to come up with escape plans for the two of us since she wasn't able to, for whatever reason. I had gotten real good at packing our things discretely and finding nearby shelters or homes of friends that we could hide in. In some ways, and probably to most people who knew us, it would appear that our roles reversed and I became the mother figure and she the kid figure. To be honest, it did really become that. However, even as much as I wanted to know, deserved to know why she chose to live her life, and by extension my life in this manner, I never could muster the courage to ask her before she was killed. I knew that she already felt like a failure and didn't want to add to that feeling knowing it could send her over the edge, being as fragile as she was. As my shoulders lost a bit of their straightness due to the heaviness they felt in this situation, I couldn't help but consider internally, 'Well, if all goes according to how Mr. Scary Vampire is saying it's going to go, I may be able to ask her all my questions in person soon enough… in the afterlife.'

…

As the limo began its journey to the site of the games, Eric continued to text for about five minutes more, finishing up some last minute Sheriff business that just popped up. After he was finished, his eyes roamed over the three humans with him. The couple was holding each other's hands, for what he assumed must have been the first time in a long time as their body language suggested they didn't quite feel comfortable doing it. He'd known human couples like them from over his thousand years of existence; drunks, who fell in love young, ran out of money and fell into hard times, who did desperate things to get by, who grew to hate and resent each other but yet were not able to let go. And now, in their last moments on this earth, they turn to each other for comfort. It was a depressing and pathetic story he'd witnessed many times over. He kinda figured he actually was doing them a favor of sorts by putting them in the games. Here they had the chance to leave this world at least fighting for a chance to stay in it. There was some honor in that, he thought. Their only other option, given their V-using and more importantly, V-selling, was death my mutilation at his hands as written in the vampire code of punishment. They were getting off easy here in his opinion. Their deaths in the games will probably be much quicker than what he would have issued them.

The girl on the other hand, she was a mystery. She sat there in the limo, as quiet and still as a church mouse while the other two, even holding on to each other, were shaking noticeably. She _was_ human; he had no doubt of that. Still, how she could be so calm? He just couldn't understand the sight. But then, he noticed her right foot. She was scrunching her toes in her shoe, slightly and truthfully if he hadn't been specifically looking for a nervous twitch, he wouldn't have noticed it at all. But there it was, the only movement that gave away her nervousness and fear.

Then he thought about her, and how many humans he had known like her, an innocent pawn in a game. She had done nothing to warrant her fate other than walk through a door. It proved once more to him that fate could be quite the tricky bitch. In the end, it didn't matter to him; she would be the catalyst to helping him break forever his ties to the only human that had his heart since his turning, well half human.

As he pondered the girl further, he knew if he were still human, the thought of using this poor girl and setting up her unfortunately premature demise should bother him, but he wasn't human anymore and gave up those emotions long ago. But nonetheless something motivated him to do something that would leave him perplexed for a long while. He moved over to the girl and removed the blindfold, causing her to blink a few times to regain her sight and as she did, he put his finger to his mouth, indicating to her that she should remain quiet with a serious but not menacing look. She was smart and followed his instruction, a look of relief on her face as she could see again. Eric then moved back to where he was sitting and began texting again while the girl turned to look out the window, taking in the nighttime scenic view as they all drove deep into Lake Bistineau State Park.

Even while he texted blank-faced and gave no indication of any thoughts beyond whatever he was texting, he was indeed having an internal conversation with himself. He couldn't quite put his finger on what propelled him to remove her blindfold. He knew when he callously passed them out to the three blindfolds she looked fearful and weary and thought that the look didn't become her. So then he figured to himself, maybe he removed the blindfold because he didn't want to see that look on such a beautiful face. 'Yes that must be it.' He thought to himself. He knew that he was instructed to have the contestants blindfolded on the off chance that any of them escape, which in truth was unlikely, but still… or so that the survivor wouldn't know where the games were actually held. It wouldn't be a good thing for the survivor to have that knowledge, just in case they ever felt brave enough to tell someone about their experience. But really, the survivor was probably going to be glamoured anyway, so who cares. In the end he decided it didn't matter why he removed the blindfold, she'd in all likelihood be dead before the end of the week. No need to worry about what she saw along the way. Still, he was glad Pam wasn't here to see this little act of… well of whatever it was. She'd never let him hear the end of it, probably accusing him of going soft. And then he'd have to reprimand her… Nope, better she not know about this.

…

I found myself staring out the window into the increasing darkness of night as thankful for the removal of my blindfold as I was confused. Eric had indicated to me, without a word said, to remain quiet as he took the blindfold from my face, but then returned back to his texting, leaving me wondering what that was all about. The Rattrays still were stuck with theirs on, shaking and holding onto each other in a bizarrely uncomforting fashion. I wasn't going to worry about them now though. It wasn't like they would worry about me. I was as sure as the grass is green that the minute they had to turn on each other to survive these games they would. And as such, they would turn on me even sooner. No, I was going to take any advantage I could to save my life, which right now meant looking out the window and trying to figure out just where the hell we were heading.

After who knows how long of nothing but tall pine trees and the bright moon to look at, I saw a sign for Lake Bistineau State Park. 'I know this park.' I thought to myself desperately trying to hide the smile that wanted to pop onto my mouth. 'I can't give away any advantages I may have. They can't know that I've been here before.' I further thought to myself trying to remember all those camping trips Sam and Arlene had taken me on while trying to buy me some time from dealing with another mess of my mother's making. I hoped to God that something in my memories would help me live through this ordeal as we rolled past the entrance to the park while Eric quickly replaced the blindfold, returning me to uncertainty and darkness once more.


	5. Chapter 4 Memories

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to say thank you once again to those of you still reading this story and if you could, please, please, please review and let me know your thoughts! Reviews let me know what's working and what's not.

Also, just wanted to add, there will be a romance, I promise, but the build up will be slow and wrapped up in a mystery.

To Atlantean-Child: Thank you so much for reviewing and letting me know you are enjoying the story. It really helps to keep the creative juices flowing when you know someone likes what you're writing.

And so… on with the show…

…

As we drove into the state park, I mentally chastised myself for not preventing the small wistful smile that crossed my lips as fond memories of this place filled my head spontaneously, memories of the times I spent at Lake Bistineau with Sam, Arlene and her kids. I didn't want to give any indication that I knew this place and I certainly didn't want Eric to ask me why the smile was there in the first place. He didn't deserve to know my thoughts and he certainly wasn't entitled to know my story. But, while I could be a pretty good liar in certain situations, there was no way I could beat a vampire's glamour should he decide to glamour me to find out. I had been glamoured already the night I was abducted and it hasn't turned out great since. Even so, I couldn't stop the memories from pouring into my consciousness of how my pseudo family used to playfully make fun of me for thinking that the grand cypress trees looked like they were wearing hula skirts due to all the Spanish moss hanging off of them, how we used to roast marshmallows and make smores under the moonlight as we told ghost stories, and how Sam used to rent a boat so we all could fish on the lake. Sam and Arlene really went out of their way to give my life some peace and normalcy, especially given the obvious fact that my mother couldn't. I would be forever grateful to them for that.

Thankfully, either Eric didn't see my smile, or he didn't think anything of it if he did, because he said nothing.

Thinking further about my close-knit set of friends, I couldn't help but think of how they deserved to know how special they were to me, what their influence was on my life and how I wish I could've seen the great things I knew they were going to do in their lives. And so, I decided to take a risk and ask the asshole who put me in this shitty situation if he could throw me a bone. It wasn't that I was throwing in the towel and resigning to a fate of dying. No. I had every intention of fighting to stay alive until the bitter end. I really just wanted to cover my bases. After all the things I've seen and the people I've lost along the way I knew that nothing was certain, even with the best of intentions. Figuring that I had nothing left to lose at this point anyway and reasoning that it would probably be better to ask before we arrived at our final destination I asked away.

"Mr. Northman?" I started to ask somewhat hesitantly, because in all honesty, I didn't know if we were allowed to talk to him.

While the Rattrays perked their ears up in anticipation of what their waitress from Merlotte's was going to ask, Eric turned to look at her, annoyance and curiosity wrapped up in his response, "What?" He figured that this was probably going to be an attempt at bargaining for her life. 'Stupid girl; I thought you were smarter than this.' He thought as he huffed to himself.

"Would it be possible to write a goodbye to my loved ones, just in case I don't make it through this… well whatever this is?" I replied quickly, sensing we were approaching our intended destination soon because the limo appeared to be slowing down.

An expression of honest surprise flashed on Eric's face that he was thankful none of his three contestants would be able to see. It was not in the least what he was expecting to hear. He mulled the question for a brief second before making his decision. "No." He replied curtly but with authority, hoping to end this conversation before it really started. This could open a whole can of worms that he really didn't want to deal with.

Anger rose through my entire being. Here I was, probably being set up to die and I can't even write a goodbye to my loved ones. No sir. I was not going take his no for an answer. "And why not?"

Eric couldn't believe the audacity of this pathetic human to question him. "I don't have to explain myself to you. You're nothing but a pathetic blood bag that will provide about five minutes worth of entertainment, if we're lucky." He replied callously, again hoping to mute the girl.

'Oh no he didn't.' I thought to myself before replying for the first time in a long time without thinking, "First of all, I am _not_ just a bag of blood. I'm a person with thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams and who until a day ago had a life with a future. Secondly, this pretty horrible situation that I find myself in is _of your doing_ and for no good reason that I can make out. The least you can do is let me write a goodbye to my loved ones. Honestly, what's the harm in that?"

Sitting up straighter in his seat, Eric shouted at the blindfolded girl, "What's the harm in that? Do you think me a fool?" The power that emanated from his words made her heart race and her body involuntarily flinch. She could understand why Sookie hated fighting with this man. She hit the nail on the head when she said he had issues with his authority being questioned.

But even though I flinched at his menacing tone, this was important to me and so I held my ground replying, "No, but I don't know why this is such a big deal."

Eric flashed at vampire speed before the blindfolded girl, now placing his face just a breaths distance from hers before speaking in such a menacing way that even the Rattrays were shaking in their boots on the other side of the limo, "No? Well, let's see here… how about in that letter you leave clues about what happened here, talk about what transpired, who was involved, etc. Do you think that I'd be that dumb to let you do that?"

I honestly hadn't thought about doing that, but now that he brought it up, the idea of bringing these bastards to justice for whatever wrongs that were certainly to be committed at their hands did have a nice ring to it. However, I really wanted to be able to write a final goodbye if possible, so I chose my words carefully and replied. "I'm not going to sit here and deny that I wouldn't love to see you held accountable for what's about to occur here. You would know that I was lying if I said otherwise. But, just like you, I'm not a fool either Mr. Northman. I wasn't planning on going all Scooby Doo on you and cryptically set you up for the pokey." I then paused for a second before switching gears, "Let me ask you this though. If you knew that there was a huge chance that you weren't going to be for this life much longer, isn't there _someone_ in your existence that you'd want to let know that they meant something to you, that you cared for them?"

Eric backed away from the girl as he contemplated her question. Immediately memories of writing his will at Fangtasia just before having to deal with Russell Edgington flooded his mind. He wanted to make sure that his child was taken care of, that she would survive, that his legacy would continue. But, he mused to himself; that was entirely different. He was a thousand year old vampire with a vast fortune from a prolific line of vampires that included his own master, Godric. It had to continue. He was important. This girl before him was nothing, for Odin's sake she wasn't even supernatural of any kind. She was a waitress at a rural redneck diner who probably would end up with five kids by four different baby daddies, hooked on meth or V or whatever, trading food stamps for cigarettes. She was nothing and would never be anything, or so he told himself. Unfortunately, thoughts of another waitress entered his mind as well; making him feel wrong for making these assumptions about the girl in front of him, which in turn made him feel weak. No. This girl and her request were sending him down a road he had no intention of wandering on, especially not now, right before he was about to set foot before who knows how many vampires of standing.

"I said NO! If you proceed to pursue this any further I will suck you dry before this car even stops!" Eric roared out his empty threat at the girl, wanting to shut down this request once and for all. He knew that he couldn't actually kill her right now because he needed three contestants. The Queen would have his head on a spike if he didn't show up with her exact requested number of humans and it was too late to find another one. The girl on the other hand would not know that.

Not wanting to die before even getting out of the car, I went back to silent mode, anger and fear boiling beneath my skin. I never thought that I would be grateful to be blindfolded, but it was almost better to not have seen him during our exchange. His words were enough to cause fear to creep into my being. Seeing firsthand the colossal asshole that Eric Northman could be, I was happy that Sookie was able to get away from his grasp on her, but in all honesty couldn't understand her attraction. I mean sure, he was physically attractive, but that only takes you so far. Where he should have had a warm heart and soul, he had nothing but a hard coldness. If he didn't make that perfectly clear before by kidnapping me for this hot mess, well he certainly did here with his denial of my simple request. While Bill had a certain coolness about him to those he didn't know well, I never saw him act like this. I couldn't help but wonder if Eric was an asshole during his mortal years and it just passed on into his life as a vampire or if being a vampire for as long as he was made him hard.

Eric was grateful for the girl's eventual silence as the limo pulled into a parking spot in front of the cabin his contestants were to be housed in. He took note that the Rattrays demeanor seemed to suggest that they were happy at the turn of events, no doubt believing that this made them one step closer to surviving these games. 'The fools.' Eric thought to himself. There was no way either one of them would survive. But, not only that, he couldn't help but have a small amount of respect for the girl for standing up for what she wanted and in truth, something that she really did have a right to ask for. And thankfully she didn't fall into a puddle of tears at his ranting at her. He really did hate tears. Tears were a sign of weakness that solved nothing and irritated the hell out of him. This girl was not weak though. Eric could see it very clearly now. 'She may actually have a shot of making it through this ordeal.' He thought to himself, wondering if that was a good thing or not, because even if she survived, she would never be the same.

…

When the limo finally came to a stop Eric did a complete 180 and said in such a calm and collected manner that you would never have known he was screaming a few minutes before, "You may lower your blindfolds now. Just leave them hanging around your neck."

I didn't take it as a good sign that Eric wanted us to keep hold of the blindfolds because that no doubt meant that we would be using them again in the future.

Eric then beckoned us to follow him out of the limo and into the cabin it was parked in front of. Whenever Sam, Arlene, her kids and I came to the park, we always tented in the campgrounds because it was way cheaper to do so. I had to admit that I was curious about what the cabins looked like on the inside. There always seemed to be some rich kids from Shreveport who would stay in these cabins bragging about the bunk beds they got to sleep in and the TV they got to watch at night in air conditioning with their perfect families while we roughed it in the tents. I reprimanded myself for thinking that way. The tents actually were quite spacious and comfortable with air mattresses and sleeping bags and we were able to entertain ourselves pretty well with stories and campfires and the like. But still, I had always thought that maybe one day, when I had a family of my own, I would bring them here and stay in one of these fancy cabins just to say I had done it once in my life. This however was never the way I thought I would be seeing one.

Eric opened the door to the rustic wood cabin and indicated with an arm movement that we were to enter. The Rattrays looked intently at me, holding their ground and pretty much indicating that they were not about to enter the cabin first. I rolled my eyes at them and walked not cockily, but with assurance through the door. 'Did they really think that we drove all this way with blindfolds just so they could kill us by entering a cabin?' I thought to myself while taking a look at the cabin's interior for the first time.

Eric smirked at the girl's eye roll. He knew exactly what she was thinking because he was thinking the same thing. 'Stupid V-sellers.' He thought as he grabbed a hold of Mack and Denise and shoved them through the door due to them not moving fast enough for his liking. He had no patience for their kind, being the squirrely deadbeats that they were.

After everyone collected in the living area of the cabin, Eric said, pointing at the girl, "You will wait in the first bedroom on the left. Shut the door behind you. Put the headphones on. Do not attempt to listen to anything out here and do not even think to exit the room unless you want that to be your last action on this earth."

I said nothing, because there really wasn't anything to say to his command, turned and walked to the room, not minding in the least being able to be alone for a moment and away from those three, but I would be lying if I wasn't a bit curious about what they were going to be doing. Although on second thought, maybe I didn't really want to know.

…

After watching Olivia exit the room, the Rattrays eyed each other nervously as their fear level soared to code red because now that meant they were alone in the living area with Eric. Not that Olivia could help them in any way, shape or form, but she did provide a buffer between the couple and the vampire. They knew that Eric would never interrogate them with her in the room. But now, the elephant in the room, the V-selling that they knew Eric knew about, weighed heavily upon them as they each wondered if he was going to finally address it. He hadn't brought it up since they were in the basement, but they knew, what with him being Sheriff and all, that he wasn't going to shelve the topic forever. And as they were about to find out, they were right.

Looking at his black limited edition Rollex watch, he knew that he only had about forty-five minutes until he had to round up these three for the opening ceremonies. Before then, he needed to get as much information from these two pieces of scum about their V-selling business before they met their fate in the games. Once he heard Olivia shut her door, he began his investigation.

He looked intently at the woman first and said, "You will sit on the couch and wait until I am ready to speak with you." Even though the woman was slightly more intelligent than her husband, she still had been on some sort of drug for most of the past twenty years of her life, thus making glamouring her easier than taking candy from a baby. Eric smirked as she immediately followed his command.

"Now, as for you…" Eric began as Mack unconsciously began backing away from the imposing vampire. He knew his goose was cooked the minute Eric brought up selling V in the basement of Fangtasia. He and Denise had felt Eric's wrath a year ago for just using V, the torture still giving them both nightmares to this day, but now… well Mack wasn't sure what the punishment for selling was, but he sure as hell wasn't looking forward to it.

Eric stared intently into Mack's eyes, watching as the worn man started to look slightly relaxed as he slipped into the hold of Eric's glamour. Eric then quickly started his investigation. "So Mack, the two of you have been selling V, haven't you?"

"Yeah, the Mrs. and I been doing that." Mack said with a slow drawl.

"And, for how long exactly have you been doing that?" Eric asked further.

"I'd say about five weeks, no six at the most." Mack answered truthfully, but it looked like doing the math in his head to figure out the timeframe was going to give him an embolism, even under Eric's glamour.

Eric pondered on Mack's response. One thing that concerned him was that he was only aware of drainings for about two weeks. How were they able to keep it a secret for that long? But further, the rate of vampire violence in Louisiana had snuck up on the Sheriffs of the state slowly, increasing each month over the last year steadily, causing concern but not enough to warrant more than the standard investigations. The explosion of violence really didn't start until about seven weeks ago. He couldn't help but wonder if there was a correlation. But figured he'd have to work that out later.

"And where are you getting your supply from? Who are you selling for?" Eric asked, needing to find out who was supplying the sacred elixir and stop the flow. It was his duty to protect the vampires in his area.

"We got it ourselves. We sold it ourselves." Mack replied simply.

Eric stared at the man in disbelief. How in the world did these two scrawny, drugged out idiots manage to secure vampire blood? It didn't make sense. A two-day-old newborn vampire would be able to kill these two in the blink of an eye, even silvered. They just were no match against his kind. 'What's really going on here and how big was this operation?' Eric wondered to himself before asking, "And how did you two manage to get it yourselves. Did you have help?"

"Yes." Mack replied, almost too simply this time.

"Who helped you?" Eric asked, somewhat irritated.

Mack just stared absentmindedly into Eric's eyes.

Eric, angered by the lack of response, yelled back at Mack, "WHO HELPED YOU?"

"I don't know." Mack answered, and if his eyes weren't still glazed over and his body so relaxed, Eric would have sworn that the man was lying. But, Eric knew the man was under his control and telling the truth. This was not going to be as straightforward as he had hoped it would be.

"But you had help. If you don't know who was helping you, then what kind of help were you getting?" Eric asked after calming a bit; trying a different route to get the information he was looking for.

"Me and the Mrs. would get notes in our mailbox that let us know when and where we could drain vamps in their sleeping places." Mack replied.

If it were possible for Eric's face to pale, it would have here. The sleeping places of vampires were sacred secrets that usually only the vampire themselves and maybe their progeny may know. In some rarer instances, a trusted lover may be privy to the well-guarded secret, he thought to himself as a brief memory of Sookie flashed in his mind, but that was about it. Even Eric, with all his years and his standing in the vampire community didn't know where his vampire subjects rested, as it should be. Several questions popped immediately into Eric's mind. Who was supplying this information to these two? How did they get this closely guarded information and lastly, why give the information to these two?

"And you never in all those weeks of getting the information questioned where it came from or even if it was accurate?" Eric asked.

"No." Mack replied.

Eric knew these two drug addicted assholes probably had little to no common sense, but in all honesty, who would seek out a vampire's sleeping place on the advice of a slip of paper in a mailbox? Even these two wouldn't jump willy-nilly into something like that. Even they had a greater sense of self-preservation than this would suggest. Something didn't add up here.

"Why did you act on those notes in the mailbox? You honestly didn't wonder where they came from?" Eric further questioned.

"We got the notes and drained. That's what we did." Mack replied quickly with the truthful, but canned-sounding answer.

Eric felt a huge sense of dread smash into him like a ton of bricks as the realization hit him that the man and his wife were obviously compelled to take the information given to them and without question drain those vampires. It was the only explanation for their actions, even for two as desperate as them. It made perfect sense now to pick these two. They were strung-out scum and expendable. If they were caught or killed in the act, no one would care or perhaps even notice their absence. By his best estimation, their taking part in this without so much as a thought meant they were either glamoured by a vampire or under a witch's spell. Neither option boded well for the vampires of Louisiana. And now, being here among so many vampires from all around the state and the Authority and not knowing if one of them could be involved in this, he had to make sure that no one knew he stumbled upon this information. He knew, or at least strongly suspected, that the cabins were being monitored though and needed to make sure that the information didn't flow any further than it already had. This meant that he was going to have to place his trust in the one vampire that he would rather not work with… Bill.

Before he would ask for Bill's help though, he had one further question for Mack, "Did all the vampires you drained meet the true death?"

Mack replied, "No."

Eric had suspected that could be the reason why he didn't hear about drainings until weeks later. He needed to find out what he could from the survivors. "I want you to enter the names of all the vampires who survived into my phone here." Eric commanded as he handed over his phone to Mack. Mack immediately began typing away and much to Eric's horror wasn't done until ten names were there. 'Ten vampires. TEN! And not one came to their Sheriff for help. What is going on?' Eric thought to himself in astonishment.

…...

As I entered the bedroom, the first thing that popped into my mind was how comfortable and inviting it appeared, not to mention what a major upgrade it was from the night before when my accommodations consisted of a concrete floor behind a steel fence in Eric's personal dungeon. But as I looked around, I couldn't help but notice how different it looked from the descriptions those rich kids of my youth gave. There was no bunk bed in here, but rather a very welcoming queen-size bed covered in a fluffy down-filled duvet cover and enough pillows for a full-on pillow fight for ten. There was an oversized dresser opposite the bed and a leather armchair in the corner with a little bronze and glass table positioned next to it with a few books on top of it. There was even artwork on the walls, which I never heard anyone mention boo about before. Then it hit me, the faint smell of fresh paint on the walls as I noticed UV film on the windows, probably put there to protect any vampire from being affected by the sun. If I could venture a guess, it would seem as if the room very recently had undergone a makeover of sorts. 'How odd? These vampires certainly went through a lot of trouble for this. Why?' I wondered to myself as I shut the door.

Looking over at the dresser, I saw the headphones that Eric wanted me to put on, and so I did as he… commanded. 'Ughhhhh.' I thought again to myself as I rolled my eyes. I definitely didn't enjoy being 'commanded', especially not by him, but I really didn't have a choice in the matter now, did I? I had to play this game to win. Winning meant everything now.

Knowing I couldn't put it off any longer, I placed the wireless headphones on my ears and sat down on the bed. I couldn't help but cringe at the absolutely horrible music that was flowing through them. 'Oh my God, what is this shit?' I thought to myself as I seriously contemplated taking the headphones off and chucking them across the room. But, did I really want to see Eric's anger again? No, not really, I concluded. I looked around the room for a stereo, or whatever so I could change the music, but couldn't find anything. So I laid back onto the bed, closed my eyes and prayed that whatever the three of them were doing in the living area would come to a swift ending. Although I wasn't holding my breath that God would hear my prayer since He allowed me to be in this situation in the first place.

…

After Eric had glamoured both of the Rattrays to sit in the living area and not move a muscle until he returned, he bolted out of the cabin in search of the vampire who won the hand of his former love.

Love. That's what Sookie was to him, what she brought to his life after so many centuries of loneliness, self-centeredness, and emptiness. The love she unexpectedly but albeit delightfully caused to stir in his dead unbeating heart filled him like nothing else and it made him happy, truly happy. But, and he would only concede this to himself, his decisions, his actions, and his inactions pushed her away, taking with her that love and happiness, leaving him filled with loneliness, self-centeredness and emptiness once again, along with another emotion… bitterness. 'Enough of these thoughts.' Eric thought to himself, needing to clear his mind because now there was something more important to deal with than his bruised ego and emotions.

Thankfully, for he really didn't have much time to work with here, Eric quickly found Bill among the welcoming party for the Authority.

Eric strode with purpose over to where Bill and Sookie were making small talk with a short reddish-brown haired female vampire who was dressed in hipster attire, interrupting their conversation by saying, "Bill, a word."

"Eric? Molly, I must apologize for Sheriff Northman's rudeness. Eric, shouldn't you be getting your contestants ready for the opening ceremonies?" Bill asked, surprised to see Eric at the moment. Sookie just looked on with a sour expression on her beautiful face, wondering what Eric was going to spring on them now. History had a way of repeating itself when it came to Eric, and his history usually involved handing her ass a heap of trouble and heartache.

The other vampire, Molly, noted the tense looks exchanged between the three and took this as an opportunity to talk to a colleague that just walked in. "Bill, I need to speak to Gunther anyway. I'll see you and Sookie in the stands." And then she walked away.

Bill sighed and asked, "Eric, what do you need that can't wait until after the opening ceremonies are done? Sookie and I are responsible for…"

Eric cut off Bill by saying in a low but unyielding tone, stressing the importance of his request, "I need to speak in private with you."

Bill saw that Eric was serious as there was no smirk, no hint of rudeness, no anger, but still felt put out because of what he and Sookie still had on their plates. Nonetheless Bill knew that by Eric's demeanor, this was probably something serious, so he replied, "Fine, you have five minutes at most, follow me. Sookie sweetheart, please check to make sure that the Chancellor has arrived and knows where his seat is. Thank you." And with that, Bill swooshed out of the welcome tent with Eric fast on his heels. Bill directed them to a secure, remote spot to have this private conversation.

Once they arrived at the location Bill asked, "Okay, what is the big emergency Eric?"

"I need you do destroy the surveillance of my cabin." Eric replied, not necessarily wanting to tell Bill the reason behind his request, at least if he could help it.

"Why? _What did you do Eric_?" Bill asked somewhat menacingly, not wanting to hear if he hurt Olivia already. Sookie would be devastated. Not to mention, the Queen would be pissed that the 'fun' started without her.

"Nothing. I just need you to destroy it." Eric replied nonchalantly.

"Just because you asked so nicely? No Eric, I need to know why I you need me to do this. The Queen specifically asked for oversight on the cabins. There would have to be a really damn good reason for me to put my ass on the line in front of the Queen. So, if you don't mind, get to the point because you're running out of time and tell me why you need this or you can forget about it." Bill replied huffily. Bill wouldn't want to help Eric out on a good day, let alone without knowing why. That just wasn't going to happen.

Eric sighed, knowing that he had no option now but to explain the situation with the Rattrays to Bill. And so, Eric quickly enlightened Bill with the information he just uncovered.

A look of surprise raced across Bill's face after Eric was done. It wasn't that he didn't believe Eric, because as much as Eric was an asshole, he wasn't a liar, especially not when it came to his duties as Sheriff. No, this was real, and further it was a real threat.

"Well, this was unexpected." Bill said first, as he really was not expecting any of this.

"You understand why this information can't go past us, right? Someone sitting in those stands could be a victim or the culprit. Anyone…" Eric emphasized the last word knowing that Bill would understand, especially with all they had seen over the last couple years.

"Yes, I understand all too well." Bill replied somberly before adding, "I will help you by telling you how to destroy the surveillance yourself, without the Queen being suspicious. It actually will be easier than you think."

Eric raised his eyebrow at that to which Bill replied, "Oh come on Eric, we had three weeks to put this thing together. Do you honestly think that corners weren't cut where we could? Not to mention the Queen didn't want any of the surveillance to leave the grounds for fear that it could end up in the wrong hands. It's smart on one hand, but dangerous on the other because if any vampire here knew that they could use that knowledge to their advantage, but I digress. So anyway and not to get into to much of the technical aspect of this, the set up is the same in each cabin whereby there is a main electrical junction box hidden behind what normally would be the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. This box is specifically for the surveillance and frying this circuitry won't affect any of the other electrical in the cabin. I think the best way to destroy that box without suspicion and thereby fry all your surveillance for your cabin would be to plant the suggestion into one of the Rattrays that they are desperate to break into that box looking for pain medication. Just make sure that they get hurt somehow tonight in front of witnesses and make it look unplanned. The box is secured with key lock, but something tells me that the Rattrays have picked a lock or two in their day. That's the best I got Eric and now I've really got to get back to the welcoming party and you need to get your contestants ready for the opening ceremonies."

"Where am I supposed to plant the suggestion if there's surveillance?" Eric asked before Bill left.

Bill thought on it for a moment before finally replying, "On the walk from the cabin to the opening ceremonies. You should be able to find a moment there. Now, I need to go. We good?"

Eric nodded before adding quickly, "And if someone asks what we talked about, what will you say?"

Bill said simply, "That you were harassing me about Sookie, again. That would be the most plausible don't you think?" And then he ran back to the welcoming party.

Eric then sped off back to the cabin to deal with his contestants.

…

When Eric entered the cabin he glanced quickly at the Rattrays who were sitting on the sofa, dazed, just as he left them and figured they could wait a few more minutes as he went to get the girl first. He had left in such a hurry to talk to Bill, that he neglected to glamour her before leaving and hoped that she still paid heed to his original command to stay in the room and not move until he came back for her. He was relieved when he opened the door and saw her lying there with her eyes closed on the bed with the headphones on.

She jumped back and clumsily fell off the bed with a huge thud when he tapped on her shoulder to get her attention, causing him to chuckle slightly to himself. It was a much needed moment of levity for him and he smirked at her playfully when she popped up from the other side of the bed, blowing a piece of hair out of her face before ripping the headphones angrily off of her pretty little head.

"You know, that wasn't funny." I said angrily once I got to my knees and ripped those headphones off of my head, finally relieving my ears from that god-awful crap that someone thought was music.

"Actually it was." Eric replied with the smirk still plastered on his face.

I rolled my eyes at him before saying, "Is there a reason why I was being tortured with that shitty music?"

"What are you talking about?" Eric asked, confused about what she was talking about. He hadn't turned on any music and just wanted her to put the headphones on as a sound barrier.

"This." I replied as I picked the headphones up and huffily handed them him.

Eric took the headphones from her and placed them on his own ears. The 'shitty music' that she was talking about was actually old Swedish music that he often enjoyed listening too in the bath. Then it dawned on him… Bill and Sookie had asked on a questionnaire what kind of music each Sheriff liked. They must have made sure to have that in each cabin for each Sheriff's amusement, or in this case, contestant's torture.

"That was not of my doing, but I must say the organizers did pick some wonderful music to play." Eric said, taking a moment to listen to the song currently playing.

"Are you kidding?" I responded aghast.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Eric replied with a serious look on his face.

"Oh my God, you're not kidding. You actually like that? I thought you owned a nightclub." I replied, still wondering if he was just fucking with me.

"Just because I own a nightclub doesn't mean I only listen to one type of music. I've lived for a very long time and have learned to grow accustomed to many different types of music along the way. Some is better than others, but still, you learn to appreciate the beauty of most of it." Eric replied.

"Don't get me wrong, I like lots of different types of music too, but that… I don't know what that is. It's like a strange Gregorian chant, but not, with weird intonations. And then the beat itself seems… off." I said, trying to explain why the music was so offsetting.

Eric didn't enjoy hearing that the music that comforted him so and that he truly enjoyed was awful, but he could concede that compared to modern music, or even classical music, his was… different. What surprised him though was that this girl even knew what a Gregorian chant was and had some notion of music other than what was playing on the radio. He shrugged off his inner thoughts and just replied, "It makes more sense and probably would sound better if you knew old Swedish." He finally relented but then added. "You need to get up and straighten yourself up in the bathroom. You have five minutes. I highly suggest that you make them count. There should be make-up, hairbrushes and all the other things you need already on the counter in there."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I didn't know what was going to come next, but if I need to dress up like some show pony to save my life, so be it. And so I hopped up onto my feet and ran into the bathroom, hoping that my fall off the bed didn't totally ruin the makeover that Pam did for me.

Eric smirked when he saw the girl bolt from behind the bed, tripping slightly on the plush area rug before heading to the bathroom. He knew she desperately wanted to live and he knew she would, for how long though, well, that was the question, wasn't it?

He then got up and walked leisurely back to the living room to deal with the Rattrays. He felt no need to give them an opportunity to freshen up, because in all honesty, they looked as good now as they were going to look. Not to mention, he felt no need to give them any kind of advantage in the least. So, he bent down to get eye level with the two and said loud enough for them to hear, but quiet enough so that the girl wouldn't, "When the other contestant enters the room, you will return to your normal state. You will not remember any questions I gave you. You never told me anything about your V business. Do you understand?"

The haggard couple nodded their heads slowly up and down in acceptance and understanding of his request.

As Eric was about to stand from his crouched position, satisfied that he was done with the Rattrays, his eyes caught a glimpse of the high heels that the girl was wearing as she entered the room. Slowly he rose, his eyes rising just as slowly as took her in, from foot to head, taking in every curve, every womanly feature she had, stopping ever so slightly when his eyes reached her ample chest and then up to her beautiful face. She may be up for the chopping block, and he may still be hung up on Sookie, but he was still a vampire who could appreciate a beautiful woman when he saw one, and she very clearly was a very beautiful woman. He couldn't help but think back to when Pam tried to convince him to spare her for the club. Right now, he was thinking that he maybe should have listened to his progeny. 'Oh well, they'll be more beauties to pass through my existence, no doubt.' He thought to himself somewhat bitterly.

Normally when I guy would give me the ole 'up and down' look, as had happened at Merlotte's more than a few times, it would get me angry and embarrassed because I knew that all they wanted was to know what I would look like screaming their name while they were fucking me. It was evident in their leer, or how they unconsciously licked their lips. When Eric did it to me there in the living room, it for some reason didn't seem as creepy or awful. There was a smolder in his eyes. It was lustful, no doubt, but somehow had a smidge of appreciation and if I wasn't mistaken, he had a look about him that made it seem like it was an honor to be in my presence, like he was appreciating a fine wine or work of art. While I still didn't like the guy, I could see, just a wee bit, what led Sookie to give him a chance. Who wouldn't like to be thought of as beautiful like that? To have someone make you feel like no one else is in the room but you and him? That your beauty was show stopping? Yeah, well, I just wished right now that someone else gave me that look and meant it. There was no way that I'd ever let this asshole into my world, let alone my heart, seeing as he was setting me up for the fight of my life, literally for my life. Not that he would want me like that anyway. Sookie told me about his disdain for regular humans; how he treated them like shit. No, he probably was thinking the same thing that all those guys at Merlotte's wondered too, what I'd look like being fucked by them. Well, just like those men, Eric would never get to know either, because either I'll be killed in these games (which is not the option I'm rooting for) or it'd be over my dead body.

Once Olivia entered the room, the Rattrays broke out of their trance, looking confused because they couldn't remember how they got to the couch nor how long they'd been there.

Eric, now standing fully upright, then said to the group, "It's show time. Follow me."

He didn't prep them for what was to come that night, but figured that the Rattrays had whatever was coming to them. And as for the girl, if she was going to survive these games, she was going to have to think on her feet anyway.

And so, Eric led them, ready or not, out of the cabin to make their way to the Opening Ceremonies of The Carnage Games.


	6. Chapter 5 Introductions Part 1

Hi Everyone!

Thank you to all my new followers and favorites and those of you who are still here! Glad to have you all on board! Hope you enjoy the ride!

To MK squared: Thank you for your review! Olivia definitely will have a bone to pick with Sookie, Bill and Eric and the parts they had to play in what's to happen to her. It's going to be a rough road during the games for Olivia and she will have to learn to deal with the consequences, as will the others.

To DestructoGrl: I'm so glad that you've enjoyed reading this story. It was just something that I toyed with for a while in my mind and thought I should give a go. I wanted to write something different…

To Janaina: Thanks for reviewing! Here it is…

And so, here we go with Olivia getting a brief taste of what the games will entail.

Kilera

…

After leaving the cabin, Eric led the three of us down a familiar fine-gravel pathway that, if memory served correctly, would lead us towards the lake. I wondered to myself what we would be doing there and was tempted to ask, but a little voice in the back of my mind reminded me that if Eric was going to tell us, he would have done so by now. Sookie had said to me, more times than I could count, about how frustrated she would get with the big bad vampire for keeping information from her. She knew that it gave him a feeling of dominance over her, thinking it made her need him more… want him more. What he failed to understand was that it made her resent him and his attempts to control her. It also put her in some pretty bad situations that could have been avoided if he had only been more forthcoming. But he was used to being in control. He was _the_ ultimate control freak. Being in the situation that I was now finding _myself_ in, I could completely understand her resentment, and then some.

But, as much as it was killing me, knowing next to nothing about what was to come, did I _really_ want to risk angering the beast within him by asking? After all, he didn't seem to react to well to my earlier questions. No. I decided that it would probably be for the best to stay quiet, at least for now. Besides, nothing intrinsically bad had happened to the three of us yet, well, except for being kidnapped against our will and being told of our participation in the games. Okay, that was pretty bad, but other than that, nothing else had really happened. Sure Eric had yelled a few times and threatened, but he never actually laid a hand on us. Maybe I just need to leave things be for now. Was this the calm before the storm? I didn't know. Unfortunately, if I based my predictions on what was to happen off of Sookie's horrible luck with this vampire, then my predicament was probably going to get a helluva lot worse before it got better, if it even got better that is. Sweet Jesus I hope it gets better!

After walking for a brief while with nothing but my troubled thoughts to keep me company, Eric instructed Denise and I to stay put for a moment as he took Mack a little further ahead. She and I looked at each other, trepidation and curiosity soaring through us as we wondered what Eric wanted with Mack. However, with Eric being the behemoth of a man that he was and having his back towards us, completely shielding the much smaller Mack from our view, we couldn't tell what was going on. It didn't matter in the end because before we knew it, Eric signaled for us to move forward again with Mack, after which he took the lead once more to guide us, as if nothing weird had just occurred. And so, having no other option, we wordlessly continued on our way.

Denise, though wanting to, said nothing at first as Mack fell back into step with her, but she did tap his arm to get his attention. Once he turned to look at her, she raised her eyebrow and moved her head in Eric's direction in an attempt to find out what Eric wanted with him. Mack just ignored his wife, turned his head forward and continued to walk soberly and silently on, refocusing his eyes on the path before them. The curiosity that was plastered on Denise's face but a moment ago was now replaced by sheer worry. Mack and her had a way of silently letting the other know everything was okay. They had become experts at it out of necessity due to all the con jobs they worked on with each other over the years. Out of the worry that filled her being, she was about to ask him if he was okay, but just as she opened her mouth and whispered "Mack" ever so quietly, Eric whipped his head around and gave her a look that meant business. She quickly closed her mouth back up in response. There was nothing she could do now other than see what would unfold.

I knew something was up between Eric and the Rattrays, but I also knew that the likelihood of me finding out what it was was about as likely as me winning the lottery. I knew this because Eric didn't appear to be in the sharing mood and the Rattrays seemed to be scared out of their ever-loving minds. All I could hope for was that whatever it was had nothing to do with me. Not wanting to dwell on things that I had no control over, I decided to concentrate my efforts on taking in my surroundings. I saw some flint rock on the path and knew that it was good for starting fires, so I pretended to trip onto the path thinking it'd give me a good opportunity to pick up a couple of small pieces. Flint could be hard to find in other parts of the park. I knew that because Sam used to make such a stink about it whenever we camped. He loved to have us live as much as we could off of nature when we camped. I have to admit it weirded me out at first, being a mall and McDonald's kind of girl before my dad's death, but I grew to love working with nature the more we camped and the more I learned. But anyway, I decided I would have to try to get some flint here, not really knowing if I'd have another opportunity. It wasn't that I had a specific plan for setting a fire, but I wanted to live and figured I needed to think ahead. Eric turned around and gave me a stern look as I got up, keeping the flint from his view in my closed hands. "I just tripped. You try walking a mile in these shoes on this path and let me know how well you do." I replied huffily, trying to look completely put out and hoping that he would take my clenched fists as a sign of childlike anger instead of for what they were really doing, hiding the pieces of flint.

Eric smirked in response to the girl's rant, amused at her anger, as he thought of how Pam-like her response was. Satisfied that she was fine to continue, he turned around to get the group moving again. "Just keep walking." As he, Denise and Mack started to walk, I held up just a bit, but not enough for any of them to take notice and stuck the flint rocks into my bra. Thankfully they were big enough to be usable but small enough to not be noticeable through my dress.

As the walk continued on, I was reminded of just how far the cabins were from the lake by my aching feet. 'Whose bright idea was it to put us in sky-high heels and then make us trudge through a park? Oh, maybe this is part of the games, see who can make it through without horrifically huge blisters or twisting an ankle?' It thought bitterly to myself as I rolled my eyes to no one in particular. I'd be lucky if that was all there was to these games.

Thankfully, or not, I could tell we were getting closer towards the lake by the change in foliage. I used to love to look at all the different types of trees and plants when we camped here, and they were certainly different in various parts of the park. I was brought out of my thoughts when I started to hear the noise level increase. 'There are a lot of people here.' I thought to myself as I also took notice of a lot of lights in the near distance. What I didn't see though was anyone else walking on the path with us. I didn't know what to make of that, and that coupled with the fact that I couldn't take the quiet anymore, made me finally break the silence and ask, "Mr. Northman, are we the only contestants?"

Eric ignored her, as they were on the verge of being considered late. 'Besides, they'll find out the answer soon enough anyway.' He thought to himself as he quickened his pace, making the three quicken theirs as well. He didn't even have to remind them to step up their pace because he had struck the fear of God in them earlier in the cabin before they left by telling them that if they attempted one step towards fleeing, or attacking him, they would be immediately killed. As he turned around quickly to make sure they weren't too far behind, he took note that as much as almost running in heels was bothering the two women, they were actually keeping up better than the useless man. 'Yes, I chose the right person to glamour… the weakest link.'

The reason for their hustle was that he had deliberately waited to get them out the door until he felt everyone else would have already started their walk. He needed to be able to glamour Mack without any other vampire seeing. Not knowing just exactly what he was stepping into with this draining investigation, he needed to keep his information and actions extremely close to vest. It killed him that he already had to share information with Bill of all people. He needed to make sure that it went no further than him at the moment.

After about five more minutes of walking, and me going on and on in my mind about what an asshole Eric was, we came upon a huge black tarp tent that was apparently being guarded by two men, or vampires (I really didn't know at this point), holding sniper rifles. I could tell they were sniper rifles by the scope on top of each gun. The only reason why I knew what little I did about guns was because of Sam. He felt that a girl living on her own should know a thing or two about guns. 'Dear God, why do they need sniper rifles though?' I mentally questioned with a shudder. I didn't get to think much more about it (thankfully) as Eric raised his right hand, obviously meaning for the three of us to stop before speaking to the men. "I am Sheriff Northman of Area 5. These three pathetic creatures are the contestants from my area."

The two men sneered at us, making sure to flash their sharp pearly whites (ah ha… vampires) before the uglier of the two replied, "Yes, of course Sheriff Northman. We'll see to it that your contestants are properly handled. The festivities are about to start, so you should make your way to the grandstands now. Don't forget to pick up a refreshment on your way. There are plenty of vermin to choose from."

"Gentlemen." Eric bowed his head to the armed guards before sprinting off at vampire speed to his seat in the stands, not giving any of us a further glance, word, or anything. Not that I expected him to wish us good luck or nothing, but… well, it was alarming to just be left there with nothing but the unknown. And so, the three of us watched in obvious distress as he sped off, just leaving us there with these two armed and dangerous vamps. Shoot, they'd be dangerous even without being armed.

'Why should I be surprised?' I wondered to myself at Eric's quick departure. 'It's not like he cares about whether we live or die. He took us here in the first place.' I was brought out of my inner thoughts when one of the guards unexpectedly sped behind me and jabbed the butt of his rifle into my back, pushing me forward with such force that I nearly tripped into the tent seeing as I was wearing those God-awful high heels. "Come on now you piece of trash. We don't have all day to wait for you. Get moving!"

Denise and Mack didn't seem to fare any better than me. After I was pushed into the tent, I quickly turned around and saw Denise was also unceremoniously pushed forward. Mack, in some stupid form of chivalry that seemingly came from nowhere, tried to push the vampire back only to be rewarded with a sharp backhand to the head from the vampire. The blow was so hard that it actually ripped some skin off the side of Mack's face and he had a hard time getting up from the ground he just landed firmly on.

The ugly vampire then said to, well, Ricky, "Awww shit Ricky. They gotta be able to walk the stage. Get that idiot up and put him in line with the rest."

The two got Mack up, but he looked awful with blood running down the side of his face, his hair all askew, his pants dirty with grass stains and a good long tear on his rear. 'Wow!' I thought to myself aghast, 'The vampire only backhanded him and he looks like death warmed over.' Sookie had told me about how strong vampires were, but you really don't get it, not really, until you see it first hand. I had seen enough right now to trust they were strong, but I had a sneaking suspicion that this wouldn't be the end of it unfortunately, not by a long shot. All I could hope for was that I would not become the recipient of the next demonstration.

Denise ran up to her husband and immediately began to nervously pat down his untidy hair and straighten out his clothes that were now in obvious disarray. Part of me wanted to help the couple out. It's what anyone would normally do, right? But, these weren't normal times and definitely not a normal situation. And so I hesitated briefly, knowing that not helping them could help my chances at surviving. But then my conscience kicked in, making me feel like complete shit. So I walked over to them and helped as best I could to make him look as presentable as he was going to at this point. Mack still looked dazed from the blow to his head, but Denise gave me a thankful look. It appeared that even though the couple had their faults; they still did care for one another underneath it all. I gave a small tentative smile back, wondering how long I'd be able to hold on to my humanity during these games. They hadn't even started and I already faltered. 'No. I have to be better than this. I'm not going to let them completely destroy me. I can't.' I vowed to myself, hoping that this vow wouldn't get me killed.

"Alright you vermin, he looks good enough now. Get in line with the rest. The show's about to start." Ricky said as he pointed to the large group of people ahead of us, making my mouth involuntarily drop open at the sight. I hadn't had the opportunity to take notice all of them before this point. He then added, "Just in case your Sheriff didn't tell you, you will walk out when his area is called forth. Be prompt or suffer the consequences."

It was bad enough to think that I was going to have to fight for my life against the Rattrays, but now it appeared that I was going to be fighting for my life against… well as I did a quick head count, at least over thirty people. 'Oh my God! All these people…This can't be happening!' were the only words that kept playing in my mind as I distractedly walked over to join the group of other damned souls whose faces all reflected the same sense of fright, confusion and dread, Denise and Mack following closely behind me.

It was mind-blowing to see that size of a group and no one make a peep. I had so many questions and couldn't help but wonder if these people had more information than I did. Eric hadn't prepared us in the least as to what we were to do here, or not do. The only thing I did know though, solely by observation, was that everyone was definitely keeping quiet. I figured I'd wait to see if anyone else spoke first before asking any questions. Mack on the other hand opened his big mouth without so much as a thought and asked, "Does anyone know what's going on?" We all then saw the consequences of speaking at this point.

The ugly vampire with Ricky walked over and said, "Didn't your Sheriff explain to you that you are not to talk to the other contestants at any time tonight?"

"No sir. I'm sorry sir, he did not." Mack replied truthfully.

And it was true. I thought to myself, 'Eric didn't say shit to us about the rules… or anything about this… that rat bastard!'

"Well then, he must not care about having the winning human then. Ricky, can you demonstrate to these humans what the consequences are to not following the rules?" Mr. Ugly said to Ricky. I winced at the mentioning of Eric not caring whether any of his contestants survived. I knew that he didn't, I really did; I mean he left us here with no instructions, but it was somehow worse to hear the obvious spoken out loud.

"Why it'd be my absolute pleasure." Ricky replied enthusiastically with a sick sadistic grin plastered on his face just before he grabbed a knife from one of his belt loops and cut off Mack's left pinky finger. Mack screamed out in pain while his blood spouted all over Denise's dress. Instinctively I raised my hands to cover my mouth partly in shock and partly to make sure that I didn't make a sound.

Every single human that stood in the tent, myself included, wanted to scream in shock and fear, but somehow we all managed to stifle the response, well other than Mack who had ample reason for screaming. Other than a few gasps of air, there were no other responses, the want to live overweighing the need to expel a peep. Trying to keep my composure, I turned my gaze away from Mack and Denise, wanting to desperately focus on something, anything else. Of course as luck would have it, as soon as I cast my eyes down towards the ground, they found Mack's severed finger just before Ricky dashed over and stepped on it. Whether that was intentional or not, I didn't know, but what I did know was that it took just about everything within me to not throw up at the sight.

As it turned out, Ricky had rushed over with gauze to bandage up the wound and a shot of something to ease the pain, mumbling all the while about not wanting the 'piece of shit' to bleed out and die before getting on stage. And even though I noticed his fangs popped out at the sight of all that blood, Ricky didn't appear to actually take any of Mack's blood, which perplexed me until he said, "Ughhh! This is the worst smelling blood I've smelled in a long time." 'I guess that explains that.' I thought to myself, wondering how my blood smelled to them, hoping it smelled just as bad as Mack's.

I figured they must have anticipated something going down in the tent by the fact that they even had gauze and surgical tape and drugs here. I then further figured that didn't bode well for us humans here. As I watched Ricky bandage Mack up, I marveled at the speed at which his hands moved. They moved so quickly in fact that they appeared blurry. It was amazing and frightening at the same time. It was also a reminder that I'd never be able to outrun a vampire. Hopefully I wouldn't have to.

This whole scene made me realize all the more that I would really have to rely on Sookie's stories when it came to dealing with these vampires. The only vampire I had ever met prior to all this bullshit was Bill, her husband, but he went to extremes to appear as human as he could to their friends. I had never seen him do anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, now I wished I had, if nothing else but to know what I was in for.

While Ricky was dealing with Mack, Mr. Ugly picked up his walkie-talkie upon hearing it beep once, and after listening to his given instructions said, "Alright you vermin, listen up. The opening ceremonies are about to begin. And just a reminder, you all best follow the rules, so we don't have to exact any further punishments. But, just in case you forgot them… you make a sound out of turn and it will be your last. When you hear your area's number get called, you will walk promptly to the stage and do whatever you are told, answer any questions you are asked and the like. Failure to do anything will end with your immediate death. Am I clear?"

Everyone nodded in understanding, and fear. Ricky and Mr. Ugly smirked at the silent crowd before turning on the TV monitor that was in the corner of the tent so that everyone in there could watch what was occurring outside. The Queen had specifically requested that the humans be able to watch the opening ceremonies, so that they would know they were going to be a part of something far greater than themselves.

…

Sophie-Anne was really in her element here, front and center on the large stage positioned beautifully in front of Lake Bistineau, the stars shining above on the brilliantly clear night. She loved performing, loved being the center of attention, but what she especially loved was making money. And tonight, she was making a shit-load of it. Her bet takers had told her that they already took in over $500,000 in bets tonight, and the games hadn't even started yet. Vampires were solely placing bets based on where they lived and how much faith they had in their Sheriff's choices. She couldn't even fathom how much more she was about to make once the contestants were finally introduced and the games actually began. Her mouth salivated though at the prospect. Yes, having the violence decrease in her realm would no doubt help her reign, but in reality, she needed the money that these games could generate to get her out of the financial pickle that she had gotten herself into. 'Nothing wrong with killing two birds with one stone.' She thought to herself triumphantly, as a wide smile grew on her forever-youthful face.

So there she stood, dressed impeccably in a Stella McCartney baby blue satin jumpsuit, silver diamond studded Jimmy Choo stiletto heels, dripping in diamond and sapphire jewelry, her light blonde hair styled perfectly in Veronica Lake-like waves and her makeup flawless, reflecting in every inch of her being the regal ruler that she was, in front of her minions, a few choice invitees from the Authority and close-by kingdoms, about to give her opening remarks for the games. The crowd's cheers blew up her ego and gave her such an adrenalin rush that she indeed was feeling a little buzzed. As much as she could have stood there for eons, basking in the ecstasy of the crowd, she knew that she needed to get the games started. There was a lot to accomplish before the pull of sunrise would force everyone to go to ground. So, she raised her beautifully manicured hand to quiet the eager crowd. The sound of silence now took over the crowd as they obeyed the Queen immediately. And so, knowing that the crowd eagerly awaited her words, she began to address them, pacing back and forth along the stage so that everyone would have a good look at her fabulousness.

"Thank you… thank you all for that rousing show of support. It warms my cold dead heart to know that you all are here to join in this celebration of the vampire existence. And so, here it is that I stand before you tonight, my fellow vampires, in gleeful anticipation of what I know will be talked about fondly for years to come; The Carnage Games. While you all know that this will be quite the event, what many of you may not realize, is that these games used to be held every ten years up until the twentieth century. Vampires from all around the world would gather in one corner of the globe to relish in their dominance over the lesser species, to exert their superiority over the inferior, to allow their bloodlust to be acknowledged and quenched in such a manner that could not be done in the open otherwise. It seems though that now that we have revealed ourselves to the humans, it is especially critical that these games be revived, to allow ourselves the opportunity to be true to our nature in a way that we cannot dream to do otherwise without dire consequences. Humans need to remain naive about our darker tendencies, our darker needs. Denying ourselves the ability to release these urges is what I believe has lead to an increase of vampire violence against each other and against the human populace that we cannot allow to continue any longer. Let us relish in our vampire nature here at the games so that we can resist those urges when we return home. Because trust me when I say this, if we cannot find an acceptable outlet, the humans will come for us. And do not sit there thinking that the humans would never be able to defeat us. What they lack in strength, they more than make up for in numbers and creativity. And, I for one have no intention of falling to those pathetic creatures.

Cheers emanated from the crowd in obvious agreement with the Queen. Eric looked expressionless at the vampires who sat around him, all whooping and hollering it up, elbowing and high-fiving each other, getting completely caught up in the fervor just as his Queen no doubt intended. He, being as old as he was, had learned to cull his own bloodlust long ago. That's not to say that he couldn't or didn't get swept up in it from time to time, that was bound to happen, but that was usually only reserved for persons who really deserved his wrath for one defendable reason or another. And sure, while he lost his temper here or there, quite often yelling at others who annoyed him or questioned his decisions, it didn't usually end in a massacre. Though his face didn't and wouldn't show it, especially not in front of _this_ crowd, he was beginning to worry that these games may actually put more on his plate after they were done; that these younger vamps would go back to their stomping grounds, newly invigorated by the gore they were to no doubt witness here and feel the need to continue the bloodshed. He hoped that the Queen knew what she was doing. Glancing quickly at Bill and Sookie, seeing the look of dread on both of their faces, he figured that they too must have wondered the same thing.

The Queen then continued, breaking Eric from his musings. "And so, without further ado, I will bring forth the start of The Carnage Games!" As she said this, she grabbed a mallet and struck the ancient bronze gong that was situated at the far right of the stage, causing a large booming sound to echo through the crowd and even through the tent, causing the humans to shudder in anticipation of what this all meant.

The Queen then walked over to where three distinguished looking people were sitting in tall director's style chairs near the gong. "And now, onto the introductions of the game's overseer's. It is the job of these illustrious people to make sure that the games proceed according to the ancient rules. And don't be mistaken; there are rules, as each and every one of you should know after signing off on them prior to your attendance here tonight. Just as the humans have a set of rules to follow, so do you all. Any breaking of the rules will not be tolerated in the least. The rules are there for a reason, to keep order, to keep peace. And trust me when I say that you do _not_ want to witness the fury of the overseer's if the rules are compromised. You have been warned." The humans could only hear the murmur of the crowd at the warning on the TV.

Switching gears and sounding much more upbeat now, the Queen then continued on, "Okay, enough of the gloom and doom and on to the introductions! First off, it is my utmost privilege and honor to introduce The Guardian, Roman Zimojic, the illustrious head of the Authority who took time from his busy schedule to participate in this historic event." The crowd became silent and bowed their heads in reverence and awe as Roman stood, radiating power and looking impeccable in his Tom Ford suit, Ferragamo shoes and killer grin, to address them.

"My brethren, I want welcome you all to these hallowed games with open arms. It is my sincere hope and desire that each and every one of you takes from these games the feeling that you have participated in a special bonding experience like no other with your fellow vampires. It is critical that you all realize that we need to work together, especially now that we have exposed our existence to the world, and what better way than in these games. Only by working together will we rise above... will we become… better. Now, I want you all to know that I take my responsibility in governing over these exalted games with the seriousness that it deserves. And so, just as Queen Sophie-Anne indicated before, the rules shall be followed to a tee. But in all honesty, enjoy the fucking show!" Roman said the last part with a bellow that caused the crowd to roar in agreement.

Sophie-Anne then held her hand up to silence the crowd before continuing on, "Next we have Chancellor Salome Agrippa, also from the Authority. Salome herself had participated in some of the very first Carnage Games and has leant her expertise in helping to shape these games. Let's give her a warm Louisiana welcome!" Cheers again filled the stands as Salome waved her hand at the crowd, but made no movement towards getting out of her seat. Noticing that the Chancellor had no intention of speaking to the crowd, Sophie-Anne moved on to the last person seated.

The crowd quieted a bit as Sophie-Anne moved on to the next person as they could all tell that the person was not a vampire. Curiosity caused a hush to fall as Sophie-Anne then spoke, "Ah yes, you are all wondering who and probably what this creature is." The fairly attractive, well-dressed, chestnut-haired young woman sitting in the chair cringed at being called a creature, but said nothing. "This is Amelia Broadway and you will treat her with the respect she is due. Amelia has been asked personally by myself to be one of the overseer's as the rules state that one of the overseer's must be a witch." The crowd gasped as Sophie-Anne let the cat out of the proverbial bag as to what this woman was. Once the information sank into their heads, Sophie-Anne continued. "Amelia is not just a witch, she is a very powerful one and one who it would behoove you all to stay on her good side. Now, with that being said, you are all probably wondering why a witch would need to preside over these games, our games. Well, let me tell you why. First off, she is the one who is creating a barrier around the perimeter of the games so that no outsiders can see or hear what is going on in here and further that no contestants can escape. Secondly, she will make sure at the end of the games that all the bodies are disposed of in such a manner that no one will ever find them. And lastly, the originators of the games felt that it was important that there be at least one outsider to make sure that there is indeed one winner." Sophie-Anne said the last part while looking at the witch. The witch nodded back.

Vampires were inherently leery of dealing with witches seeing as witches were some of the only supernaturals who had a very keen advantage over vampires, given their magical abilities. That being said, most vampires knew that if you could befriend a witch, the relationship could be beneficial to both. Seeing as the Queen as well as the Guardian seemed to approve of this witch, the crowd saw no need to question it and all nodded their respect to the witch.

"Good. Now that I see that you are all aware of the rules and those who will enforce them, then I see no reason to hold off the show any longer." Sophie-Anne said as she took a seat in the empty chair next to Amelia and said, "Guards, send out the contestants from Area 1."


	7. Chapter 6 Introductions Part 2

Hi Everyone,

Once again I would like to thank everyone who has read my story. I hope that you are all enjoying it as much as I am writing it.

Thank you to all of you who have favorited and followed it!

To DestructoGrl: Thank you so much for your review! I'm trying my best to update as much as I can. I have the story planned out in my head, but need to get it all down on paper, so to speak.

To Janaina: Your review is much appreciated! Well, we will get introduced to the contestants in this chapter and you'll get to hear Olivia's take on some of the situations.

To StarkStruck11: Thank you for letting me know you like it! I'm really trying to use elements of both stories to make something more original. I hope you continue to like it!

To Nitrogen920: Thank you for giving this story a go as well. I like strong female OC's who like to use their heads.

To those of you who may be wondering, there will be more Eric/OC interaction, there's just stuff that has to happen before.

And, just to forewarn you, there will be the use of some bad language and violence.

And so, off we go…

Kilera

…

All the humans in the tent looked around nervously at one another, fear and curiosity evident on their faces, wondering who was from Area 1. 'Looks like we're all in the dark here. Not that it makes me feel any better though…' I thought to myself while nervously and slowly swallowing hard. I couldn't decide what was worse, not knowing what was going to happen, or the stupid horrible thoughts that decided to bombard my brain about all the nasty, vile things those vampires _could_ do. 'Now really isn't a good time for you to run wild.' I mentally scolded my overactive imagination. Damn Sookie and all her stories of her past. They were just adding fuel to my imagination's fire.

For a good few moments, not a soul moved towards the stage entrance. This was different than walking into the cabin when we first got here. This was where the games were being held. This was the site of the action. Who in their right mind would want to be the first ones out there; out onto a stage, to the unknown, on display like meat at the butcher counter, in front of a crowd of excited and quite possibly hungry vampires.

"Come on now. You don't want to lose a finger or something _else_, do you?" Ricky said ominously to the crowd of humans, which immediately prompted six people, three women and three men, to finally walk, albeit begrudgingly, towards the stage entrance.

While the six of them made their way out there, the rest of us returned our attention to the TV screen once more with baited breath to watch the scene unfold, each of us desperate to find out what was going to happen to them, and then by extension, possibly to us.

Sophie-Anne clapped her hands wildly as the first six contestants made their way onto the stage. "At last, here we have our contestants from Area 1. Sheriff Kirsch, would you do us the honor of coming on stage and introducing the contestants from your area to our audience."

Kisrch, a mildly attractive brunette female vampire who looked like she was in her early forties when she was turned but was dressed like a twenty-something clubber, ran at vampire speed from her seat in the stands onto the stage. When she came to a stop, she bowed before the supernatural group and said, "Guardian, Chancellor, Your Majesty and Ms. Broadway, it is my honor to participate in these venerable games." Eric rolled his eyes at how Kirsch was kissing ass, but he knew she was a young sheriff and didn't want to piss off the wrong people. She then continued by introducing the contestant standing nearest her, "I'll just get started with this one here. This is Candy Kane." A snicker went through the crowd at the mention of the female's name.

Sophie-Anne then interjected, "Kirsch, before you go any further, understand that we don't need last names, even when they are as entertaining as this one is. Also, please keep their bios short and sweet and to the point."

"Of course Your Majesty." Kirsch replied with a bowed head before continuing on. "Candy is an exotic dancer at the Come and Get it Steakhouse in Baton Rouge."

"Of course she is." Sophie-Anne said with a sarcastic tone. Anyone with half a brain would have concluded that by looking at the woman. She wasn't ugly, and in fact, she had a pretty fit body, but it was obvious that she was a veteran of the industry. Her once youthful glow had long ago gave way to a more used-up look, how could it not? Years of late nights, random sexual encounters, drugs and alcohol would do that to anyone. "So… _Candy_… do tell us how do you intend on surviving these games?" Sophie-Anne asked, hoping for an entertaining response.

Candy turned her head to look dead in the eye of the Queen, trying to bring forth all her sexuality in her response as she brought a hand up one side of her torso, brushing the side of her breast with a sexy smirk before saying, "I will do whatever, and I mean whatever, I have to do in order to live." It was obvious to the Queen that this woman often resorted to sex to get what she wanted, or to get out of a jam.

As I watched Candy do her thing before the vampire in charge, I thought to myself, 'My God, she'd fuck every last one of them if it meant living. No doubt. What chance did I have against that? Because I certainly wasn't going to be fucking anyone here. That was for damn certain. But how far would I have to go?' I didn't know the answer to that or what my response to would be when in the situation, and that scared me. What scared me even more was not knowing what these vampires _were_ going to ask of us.

Candy's sexy smirk quickly dropped off her face when the Queen rolled her eyes at the unappealing stripper, who unfortunately gave the most boring answer, being that it was the one most predictable. 'Strippers can be so unsurprising.' She thought with a sigh before looking onto the next contestant.

"Kirsch, how old is this man?" Sophie-Anne asked snappily while looking contestant number two up and down with repulsion.

"I… I don't know Your Majesty." Kirsch replied, embarrassed to be caught off-guard and worried about the disgusted reaction of the Queen.

"Okay then, why is he here?" Sophie-Anne asked, trying to figure out why the hell Kirsch would mock her games by having this old as fuck human here.

"He was a trusted day-man of Lenny Tildo." Kirsch said before the Queen cut her off.

"I knew Lenny, good vampire. But he met the true death, didn't he?" Sophie-Anne asked curious where this was going.

"Yes, he did, and by that man's hands." Kirsch said, pointing to the older gentleman.

"Ahhhhh. Yes. This makes sense now. I'm a big fan of killing two birds with one stone myself. However, this man is too old and ugly to be a part of the games themselves. But, that is not to say that he will go unpunished for his crime. Do you have any last words murderer?" Sophie-Anne asked the doomed man with venom dripping from her words.

The man straightened up his posture, knowing that he was doomed no matter what and so, deciding that he would take it like a man he replied, "I considered Lenny a fine boss and a friend until the day he drained my poor granddaughter and laughed about it to my face, saying that she was nothing but a loose hole and barely edible blood bag. SHE WAS MY GRANDDAUGHTER! Do I regret killing Lenny? No. If he were to appear right now before me I would do it again… that son-of-a-bitch!"

"Well, there you have it folks, the man admitted his crime before all you witnesses. Now, you all know what we do to those who kill our kind, don't you?" Sophie-Anne spoke to the crowd, many of whom already had fangs popped out in anticipation of the punishment. But before she could continue, the old man interrupted her.

"Yes, of course they all do. But do you know what justice my granddaughter would've gotten if I didn't kill Lenny. NONE! I served that man for sixty years and he repaid my loyalty, my service, my devotion by killing the one sweet thing in my life. Where would justice be if I hadn't killed him?" The older man said, his voice growing more hoarse and rougher by the word, trying to hold back tears, like most men would trying to retain their dignity.

Sophie-Anne looked at the man like he was nothing before replying, "Ah yes… justice… riiigggighhhht. Look, I knew Lenny enough to know that he liked to play hard and loose with his money and he liked his women even looser. I'm sure your little precious granddaughter was so stretched out you could hear echoes in her cavern and she could probably suck the chrome off of a semi truck. So don't play this bullshit with me mister." And with that Sophie-Anne picked up the old man without further word and threw him into the anxiously awaiting crowd. As soon as his body fell within reach, vampires grabbed his limbs, ripping them and his head from his torso, drinking the blood dripping off of the severed parts. It was like watching a feeding frenzy during shark week on the discovery channel, except with people.

My breath hitched and my hand rose involuntarily to my mouth as I watched in horror the scene unfold on the TV. I continued to stare in shock and disbelief, unable to avert my eyes, as the hateful vampires replayed the scene in instant slow motion, obviously relishing in the dismemberment of that old man. 'This can't be happening. It just can't.' I thought to myself. Seeing it occur on TV instead of being out there on stage made it feel more like watching a horror movie, but I knew it wasn't a movie and it _was_ real. That man, who up until five minutes ago was standing in this same tent as me, was just ripped limb from limb by those… monsters. I looked at the faces of those around me and saw the same shock, disgust and fear in their expressions. However, there was no comfort in knowing we all felt the same way, because how do you take comfort in knowing that you and everyone around you were all royally fucked?

But not only that, the old man's situation made me think about the whole justice thing. Obviously vampires had a different viewpoint of justice than us humans. We humans had trials and lawyers and a thing called due process. Sure, it wasn't a perfect system and we hear in the news, unfortunately more often that I'd like, about juries and their questionable decisions, but there was usually a process and some semblance of fairness. Here, the Queen acted as judge, jury and executioner in the matter of a couple of minutes, if that. In fact, it seemed like the man knew his fate, accepted it, and egged the Queen on to end the pretense of a trial sooner than later. I could only hope that he was now at peace with his granddaughter. There would be some justice in that at least.

Sophie-Anne grinned widely, fangs blazing at the bloody mess in the stands before saying, "That was but a taste of what's to come my brethren. Let's move forward, shall we? Kirsch, continue."

Before Kirsch began, I gasped softly at the Queen's words, "This is but a taste…" 'Oh my God!' I thought to myself. 'They just ripped a man apart. What else do they have planned?'

"Yes, your Majesty." Kirsch responded before continuing, "And here we have Beth, a sales associate at Forever 21." She said this while pointing to the shaking petite brunette with a pixie hair cut, wearing an outfit that not doubt was from Forever 21.

"Ahhhhh, Forever 21… I like it Kirsch. Unfortunately for you Beth, if you don't win these games, you'll be forever… Uhhhhmmm, how old are you exactly Beth?" The Queen asked looking at the small woman curiously. For older vampires, it was often difficult to gage ones age.

"21." Beth answered meekly, trying not to break down into a crying mess on the stage.

"Ooohhhh! Kirsch you are brilliant! I love it!" The Queen said giddily while the crowd clapped in approval.

After a minute of that ruckus, the Queen continued on, "Okay everyone, on to the next one. Kirsch…"

"This here is Jay. Jay currently is unemployed, choosing to live off of his family's money instead of making his own." Kirsch explained with some obvious contempt in her voice.

"Oh, is that so Jay?" The Queen asked with a sly smile.

Jay looked at the Queen in fear for a moment because he didn't know where the Queen was going with this, but he knew he needed to reply, "I have a trust fund that I live off of, yes."

"Oh really. That _is_ interesting. So… Jay, do you come from a lot of money?" Sophie-Anne asked excitedly and somewhat seductively. The thought of money, or more to the point increasing her wealth, tended to make Sophie-Anne terribly horny.

Jay nodded his head and replied softly, "Yes."

The Queen then turned to Kirsch and asked, "Just how much money are we talking about here Kirsch?"

"He comes from one of the richest families in Louisiana, my Queen." Kirsch responded apathetically.

"Won't his rich family miss him?" The Queen snapped at Kirsch, now worried, wondering if having this contestant here would raise unwanted attention to the missing people.

"No my Queen. He's been a disgrace to his family since his early teens, getting kicked out of various boarding schools and he's had to be bailed out of jail on drug charges at least twice. The only reason he has access to his family's money at all is because his descendants didn't think that their grandson would be such a fuckup and didn't put any legal restraints on access to the money other than age. To be perfectly honest, I think they'll look at his disappearance with relief. They may pretend to look for him for a while, but in all honesty, they will be dancing a little happy dance in the privacy of their mansions." Tears began to well in Jay's eyes and he swallowed hard as he took in the cold hard truth that the vampire sheriff relayed to the Queen. It was true. His family would be glad that he was gone. And, in this moment, he wished he had been a better person.

The Queen smiled at the response, turned back to face Jay again and asked, "If you could, would you buy your way out of this situation? Say for ten thousand… no wait… a hundred thousand dollars?" It was evident to everyone in the audience that the Queen was clearly taunting the young man. You could hear a few snickers coming from the crowd.

As I watched the TV and heard the Queen's question, I wondered, probably like all the others in the tent, if that was even an option for any of us, not that it would matter for me. If I got out of this mess, I didn't even know if I'd be able to pay my electric bill, what with all the work I was no doubt going to be missing. I was a month-to-month kinda gal, not a trust fund baby. I had recently started refurbishing furniture as a way to make extra money, but all that I had earned had to go back to repaying Sam for the initial supplies. I know that Sam probably would've given me the money if I had asked, but I wasn't a freeloader and would never take advantage of his good and generous nature. Besides, by my calculations, I would've started turning a decent profit next month. 'Shit, would I even see next month now?'

"I would give you my whole inheritance if that would get me out of this mess, yes." Jay responded eagerly and with a glimmer of hope in his watery eyes. "Whatever you wanted of mine, I'd give you." After witnessing first hand what these vampires were capable of with the old man, he would give them anything to make it out of here alive.

The Queen contemplated the offer for a moment. She needed money; that was for sure. But, she could never accept his offer, at least not in front of the crowd. And besides, there were other ways that she could get at his money, especially if he was gone. So she went back to taunting him. "I bet you've paid out lots of money to get out of situations in the past, haven't you Jay?"

Jay eyes went slightly wide as he gulped before answering. "I may have done that, yes." A boy scout, Jay wasn't.

"Ahhhh, so that's why he's here, isn't it Kirsch. Jay's been a bad boy and couldn't pay his way out of this one. Am I right?" The Queen deduced.

"Yes, your Majesty. Jay here liked to throw wild parties at his house, which is not a big deal usually, except when the host's drug of choice to pass out at said parties was V." Kirsch replied arms crossed looking at Jay through narrowed eyes.

The Queen opened her mouth to give her two cents on the matter, but before she was able to speak, the Guardian stood up and instead spoke to the audience, "Your Majesty, I'll take it from here. As _you_ all know, the blood is sacred; only to be given to those deemed extremely worthy in certain _special_ circumstances or during procreation." He then blurred at vampire speed to stand in front of the now terrified young man, "Not for some **foolish** and **disrespectful** attempt to get high. I for one cannot wait to see how you meet your end. For those who desecrate the blood just to get their rocks off are sure not to last here." He then bared his fangs at Jay with a hiss, which promptly caused Jay to wet himself, causing the audience to roar in laughter.

As the Guardian sauntered back to his seat, satisfied that he made his point about the blood, and humans that abuse it, Jay started to break down and sob where he stood, fretting over how on earth he was going to survive this. While in the tent, Mac and Denise looked at each other, wondering the same thing.

The Queen just walked past that blubbering mess, knowing it would be best to let the Guardian's words be the last on that matter, and asked, "Kirsch, who is this next fellow?"

"This is Jim. Jim is a part-time art student, part-time barista at Mooncoins Coffee Bar." Kirsch answered looking at the tall, gangly looking mop-headed man dressed in standard hipster attire, standing with his hands in his pockets, looking a little too calm.

The Queen, noticing Jim's demeanor, walked before the man and asked curiously, "You seem to be taking this all in stride. Tell me, how can you stand there so composed when everyone else around you are hot messes?"

Jim didn't verbally respond, but rather took his hands out of his pockets and showed the Queen his wrists, each of which were marked by raised straight line scars.

"Oh, so you're the tortured artist type. Okay, I can buy that. What makes you so tortured though I wonder?" Sophie-Anne asked, hoping for a good story.

Jim sighed and looked at Kirsch before answering, "I thought I had found my perfect muse until it all blew up in my face; a beautiful façade." It was easy to see, even to those of us in the tent watching on the TV that something had occurred between Jim and Kirsch.

"Oooohhhh… I'm sensing a bigger story here. Out with it Jim. Or I'll have to get Ricky out here." The Queen said excitedly but ominously at the same time.

As I watched, I hoped that Jim would just tell his story and save himself some hurt, especially after watching what happened to Mac. But, either to Jim's credit or incredible stupidity, he only replied, "It's not that entertaining, really, just the same old story you've all no doubt heard before… the naïve chump gets played by the dangerous beauty." Again his eyes ventured towards Kirsch, who looked upon him with no emotion visible whatsoever.

As Eric watched the scene, he was taken back to the memory of Isabel and Hugo. Isabel was his maker Godric's second in command in Area 9 of Texas. Godric had been sheriff there for many years, Isabel at his side almost from the get go, and a good underling at that; loyal, trustworthy and competent. When Godric had gone missing, at the hands of that whack-a-doodle vampire hating church, The Fellowship of the Sun, Isabel had offered her human, Hugo, to help in the search effort. As it turned out, Hugo was in on the abduction, his reason for helping the church being that Isabel wouldn't turn him so they could be together forever. It just highlighted, yet again, that human/vampire relationships never worked out well. At that thought, Eric looked over to Sookie and Bill, only to find Sookie looking in his direction with sad eyes. Eric had to wonder if she was regretting her relationship with Bill, especially now, given the situation she was in, watching those of her kind being toyed with and killed for the entertainment of her husband's kind.

The Queen, not happy with the vague story, but seeing the looks between Kirsch and Jim, then turned to Kirsch and asked, "Tell me Kirsch, what's the story here?"

Kirsch sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance at the human, "Jim here and I fucked, on several occasions. Being the emotional, fragile, _stupid_ human that he is, he assumed that we were in a relationship of sorts. Needless to say, he didn't take it well when I told him that we were just fuck-buddies and that I didn't even want that anymore. He slit his wrists in front of me right then and there, saying that he didn't have the will to live anymore. Since he didn't seem to have a problem with dying, I thought why not bring him to the games. So I prevented him from bleeding out and here he is."

It brought a chill to my core how cold this Kirsch woman described her connection to Jim. It was obvious that he cared very deeply about her and equally as clear that she could care less. Not that humans weren't capable of being just as callous, I'd seen Sookie's brother Jason be just as insensitive to tons of girls over the years, but she took it a step further by saving this poor guy only to embarrass him in front of this vampire crowd and then force him to face death again. It was beyond cruel, it was utterly depraved and completely malicious.

The Queen seemed to ponder Kirsch's story for a brief moment before saying, "Well we've all been there before, haven't we people?" The crowd exclaimed in support of her statement. "One _glorious_ fuck, and humans think that they've met their forever after. Pathetic. It's just a fuck. Am I right, or am I right?" The Queen yelled out, with the crowd applauding enthusiastically.

I knew from Sookie that being with Bill, and for a brief time Eric, was the most amazing sex she'd ever had. Not that I ever asked for details, or that she'd give them to me, but she did let it slip once or twice while us girls were having a movie night at her house drinking boxed wine, that she couldn't even put to words how her body felt during and after having sex with them. She even admitted that she didn't know if she could have sex with a regular human after having sex with Bill and Eric because there would be no way for the human to compete with something so amazing. But she was lucky, Bill married her and Eric, from what she told me, still carried a torch for her. Poor Jim here, on the other hand…

"Alright, alright now… so Kirsch, please introduce us to the last of your contestants." Sophie-Anne said loudly as she held up her hand to quiet the crowd.

"This last contestant is Stephie. Stephie is an compulsive eater who regularly attends Weight Watchers meetings, although I don't believe that they are working too well for her." Kirsch replied as the crowd snickered at the attractive, but heavy-set woman as she looked down at the stage trying to hold back tears. She had heard these types of harsh words from her family all her life, so it came to no surprise to her that these sadistic vampires would make fun of her as well, but it didn't make the pain of it lessen any.

"Well, we all know about compulsive eating, now don't we people!" Sophie-Anne said, eyeing the human who could clearly feed a few vampires and then some, while the crowd responded with a round of hoots, before continuing, "But I have to know Kirsch, how did you come across this feast of a woman?"

"Evidently Stephie here had heard through the grapevine that using V could help shed unwanted pounds. It clearly didn't work for her, as you can see, but it did make her an addict who got extremely careless in how she acquired her next fix." Kirsch replied.

"I don't even want to know how she was getting it." Sophie-Anne said with a shiver of disgust. "Good job Kirsch. You may go back to your seat in the stands now. As for you five remaining contestants, you all can follow Martha there to the tent on the other side of the stage. Off you go." She added with a little shooing motion of her hands. The five followed Martha, eager to not be the center of this crowd's attention any longer, but nervous about what was waiting in the other tent.

"Okay people… that was fun, wasn't it!" Sophie-Anne cheered as the crowd went wild. While she had anticipated the games being stellar, as all her events were known to be, this was by far going to be her _pièce de résistance. _She would be remembered for this for ages and it made her positively intoxicated with self-importance. Riding her ego high, she yelled out to the crowd, "Let's keep the night moving, shall we. Okay Area 2, it's show time for you. Sheriff Duprez come on down and tell us about your fine contestants." The Guardian and Chancellor Agrippa rolled their eyes at the Queen's obvious love of the spotlight while Amelia the witch sat perfectly still, legs crossed elegantly as she watched everything with an eagle eye, betraying no emotion on her face about what she actually thought about the show.

Eric looked at the stage, at the over the top antics of his Queen, and sighed as he tried to remember silently to himself if she ever displayed an ounce of decorum. Sure, Eric liked to have fun and let his guard down, but that was only with those he considered close and more to the point… discrete; after all he had a reputation as a badass to uphold. But his Queen on the other hand… much to his dismay… was currently acting like some sort of over-caffeinated game show host instead of the royal leader of vampires that she was. The way she was speaking the audience and conducting herself made her look like she was more concerned with being liked and approved than being feared and respected. She should have had someone else emcee these games. But no, she wouldn't do that, would she? She loved attention; feed on it; thrived on it. There was no way she would hand over this kind of attention to someone else. He wondered if these games would breed even more problems in Louisiana. There were some extremely powerful vampires in attendance of these games, ones who no doubt were taking notes. Sophie-Anne was going to need to watch her back for sure when this week was over.

A good looking tall male African American vampire with shortly cropped hair dressed in all black except for a silver colored necklace blurred onto the stage upon the Queen's beckoning. He sauntered sexily over to the Queen, bent on one knee before her, took her hand and kissed the back of it while looking up into her crystal blue eyes, sending shivers up the Queen's back. Even though she was in a 'girls' phase right now, she was able to appreciate the wickedness behind that kiss. "My Queen," was all he said before standing and bowing before the three overseer's to show his respect. The three bowed in return. Duprez, while not the oldest nor the youngest sheriff, was well respected in the vampire community. He was sociable, likable and played the game of politics very well. Even Eric had to admit the vampire had game.

"While I would love to introduce my contestants, they don't seem to be out here." Duprez said with a smug look.

The Queen was incensed as Ricky and Mr. Ugly either weren't paying attention or were too stupid to know when she demanded Duprez come up on stage that they should have sent out the people from Area 2. "Yes, I see that. _Where are the contestants from Area 2_?" Sophie-Anne asked with a false sweetness that anyone who knew her meant that heads would roll later on, towards the camera.

Ricky and Mr. Ugly's eyes went wide as they saw their Queen's face stare straight at them through the TV, knowing their asses were grass if they didn't get these humans out on stage right quick. "Alright Area 2. Out there… NOW!" Ricky yelled so menacingly that the humans from that area jolted towards the door, practically running. Ricky ran up behind the last one, poking the butt of his gun into the man's back so hard that he was propelled onto the stage and landed on his face hard. The crowd broke into spontaneous laughter at the sight of the man's graceless entrance.

The Queen, watching the crowd's overwhelming joy at the sight decided to forgive her two lackey's in the tent for their mistake of not getting the contestants out sooner because the entrance more than made up for it. She watched as the fallen contestant got up shakily, but still in one piece. 'Good, at least he'll still be able to participate.' The Queen thought to herself before moving on. She already lost one contestant and didn't want to lose any more. "Okay Duprez, on with the introductions."

"Yes your Majesty. These two fellows here are Ted and Luke. They are friends who like to tag team female vampires. More to the point, they liked to tag newbie vampires who don't know how to protect themselves. Their modus operandi was to get the vampire to come home with them, have sex with them and then bite them during sex to get their V high. They somehow had found out that receiving blood straight from the source during sex was the ultimate way to get high off of V. Well, the last time they did that it was not consensual with the lady vampire and they nearly drained her by nearly ripping out her jugulars. She survived however, and came to me for justice. And here they are." Duprez said staring at the two fellows with malice in his eyes. He remembered how broken the young vampire looked in his office and it pissed him off to no end. The vampire was only a month old and her master had just met the true death at the hands of some anti-vampire zealots. She was so vulnerable.

The Guardian was going to go on about the blood again and it's sanctity, but he saw the look in the Queen's eyes and decided to let her handle this one. This looked personal for her.

"So, you two like to fuck around with vampires, huh? You like to get high while fucking us?" The Queen said with a dangerous edge to her voice.

Ted, the slightly taller and broader of the two, looked at Luke, who was shaking where he stood and wondered if he was actually supposed to answer that or not.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" Sophie-Anne yelled so loud that all other noises stopped and you could actually hear a pin drop if you wanted because it was dead silent.

"We…we…we." Ted tried to get out a response, but didn't quite know what to say.

"We, we, we… WHAT!" The Queen mocked the wretched human before her. Hearing what these two had done made her remember her own awful turning and first few years as a vampire; remember what she endured in order to survive.

"We're real sorry about that girl. We were high already before we started the sex thing and got out of control. When we saw she wasn't moving no more, we got scared and left. We didn't know what else to do." Luke replied apologetically, a true sorrow noticeable in his response, while Ted looked at him wide-eyed. He couldn't believe that his friend just admitted what they'd done. He vowed there that if they lived through this he'd kill him.

"So it seems your friend seems more upset about your actions than you do, _Ted_. Why is that?" Sophie-Anne asked with venom in her voice as she said his name, noticing that Ted seemed more concerned about Luke admitting their mistake than actually having any remorse over the deed.

"No offense here ma'am, but vampires kill humans all the time, even during sex. We don't hear about it in the news mind you, because you keep it all hush hush, but let's be real here, it happens. And, I don't think any of you are crying a tear over that." Ted answered brazenly for a man in his shoes. But, he had seen justice earlier with the old man. He knew as soon as their deeds were exposed, they'd be up for vampire justice. He was just a dead man walking right now. He may as well be honest here.

"No, you're absolutely right. We do kill humans, pathetic ones who don't deserve to be in our presence let alone breathe another ounce of air. Why _would_ we cry over them? But, we also have many wonderful relationships with other humans, shower them with gifts, and even have sex with them _TED_, without killing them. Now why do you suppose that is the case?" The Queen asked, daring him for an answer.

Ted rolled his eyes, crossed his arms across his chest and huffed, "I don't know, why?" He knew he was being too cocky, but he was tired of this charade. If they were going to kill him, he just wanted to get it over with. He wasn't enjoying this game.

The Queen was visibly pissed at this human's brashness, but decided to ignore it for now because she really didn't want to lose any more contestants, at least not yet. "_Because_, dear Ted, they amuse us. They respect us and our nature. They understand their place in the food chain and concede that they are below us in every way. And they certainly fucking know that they are to _NEVER_ take blood from us unless it is freely given!"

Ted visibly shrank as the Queen yelled at him while Luke cried silent tears of regret and shame while staring at the stage floor.

When the Queen finished, she saw a few vampires stand up immediately and clap in response to her words. Soon, many others joined in and before she knew it, she had a standing ovation. It overwhelmed her for a moment because of the raw emotion of it all. Finally she put her hand up for silence.

"Thank you all. I know that for some of you this hits very close to home. As you can see with Duprez here, your sheriffs will always have your back. Never hesitate to contact your sheriff if a wrong has occurred against you. They are there to see that justice is served." The Queen said, smiling at Duprez.

As the Queen said those words, Eric couldn't help but wonder why the vampires in his area that were nearly drained by the Rattrays never came to him for help. When he looked around at the vampires who stood up first, he saw five of them were on the list that Mac had given him of the vampires that survived their drainings. 'They obviously were affected by it, but why not come for help?' He thought to himself uneasily. Nothing about this was making sense, which meant he was probably going to get sucked into another shitty situation.

"Enough of these two, who is this?" The Queen said as she walked by Ted and Luke as if they were no longer standing there and pointed to a fair-haired, middle-aged woman of medium build dressed like she was going to church.

"This is Miss Leah. Miss Leah runs a small time brothel in Lake Charles." Duprez said with a smirk.

'Wow. Color me shocked.' I thought to myself looking up at the television screen. She looked like she taught Sunday school and baked cookies for a living. 'Goes to show what I know.'

"_This_ woman runs a brothel?" The Queen asked astonished. Evidently she too was colored just as shocked as me.

Duprez chuckled a little to himself before answering, "Yeah, I know. She don't look like the type. But, trust me when I say that this woman knows kink inside outside backwards and forwards. Don't let the schoolmarm dress fool you."

As I listened to this sheriff's answer, I realized how much I was going to miss Lafayette and all his stories. This woman may have known her kink, but they didn't know Lafayette. Oh the stories that boy would tell… 'I'm so going to miss him if I don't get out of this…" I thought sadly to myself.

"Huh! I love it! It's always the ones you least suspect. So, anything extra you'd like to add about our little minx here?" The Queen asked, amusement clear in her voice.

"Other than the fact that she kept a female vampire chained in silver on a bed for human males to fuck for a hefty price? Nope, I got nothing else." Duprez said with a sadistic smile as he looked at Leah close her eyes and sigh as her really dirty laundry was aired out.

The Queen's amused look fell from her face to be replaced by an angry scowl. "So, Miss Leah, I won't even dignify you by letting you have a chance to respond about your actions. You don't deserve to be heard. I will enjoy seeing your end come, hopefully in a gloriously bloody way, because I can't see you winning these games. After all, karma is a bitch."

Sophie-Anne then walked past Miss Leah and onto the next woman. "Duprez, who is this?"

"That would be Jilly." Duprez answered as he tilted his head sideways and looked at the short young woman with spiky bright red and purple hair and numerous piercings and tattoos all around her body. "She is a talented tattoo artist who unfortunately got pissy with the wrong clientele."

"Ooooohhh, this sounds like a good story, do tell Duprez." Sophie-Anne cooed at the sheriff.

"Well, let's see, Jilly here was asked to do a beautiful tramp stamp for the pet of a vampire in my area. Unfortunately, the pet didn't know what exactly she wanted and gave Jilly free rein to do draw whatever she wanted because it's known in the area that she's quite the artist. Unfortunately for the pet, she also didn't know that Jilly here used to be a pet for the very same vampire, that is until he got bored of her. I think you see where this is going." Duprez said jovially.

"Oh my." The Queen said with a chuckle. "So Jilly, please do tell what tattoo you gave the pet."

Jilly took a deep breath and said, "She asked for a tramp stamp, and that's what I gave her, a tattoo of a single word, in immaculate calligraphy. It was beautiful really, nice flowers and butterflies all around it…"

The Queen asked, "But what was the word?"

"Tramp." Jilly deadpanned.

The Queen and the audience all laughed at the response. "Oh that is too rich. So Duprez, I guess the vampire was not amused at the tattoo?"

"No… he wasn't." Duprez answered with a grin.

"Well Jilly, I absolutely love a woman who gets her revenge. And because of that, I'm going to reveal a little secret now. We've changed the rules a tad, to add a bit of the unexpected to these games. During each part of the games the overseers, myself, and the sheriffs can each bestow a token of our amusement to one contestant of our choosing. Or we can choose no one. And tonight, dear Jilly, I have chosen to give my token of amusement to you. You are in the clear for the rest of the night. No need to worry my dear about death for tonight. Martha, come here and take dear Jilly to her cabin and make sure she is given proper nourishment." The Queen said making grand gestures with her hands towards Martha, her vampire assistant and Jilly. The Queen didn't have to remind Martha to glamour the girl to sleep after she ate. No one wanted any contestants accidently getting free and staking vampires during the day.

I was happy for that girl Jilly when I heard that she was off the hook for the night, because honestly all she did was something stupid; anger the vampire she used to sleep with. But, I wondered if any of the rest of us would get a reprieve as well. The Queen made it abundantly clear that you needed to amuse her in order to get her favor, but what about the others? No one else had received a favor yet and it could end up that no one would. I didn't know if these games were going to have a physical aspect, but the mental one was definitely leaving my head spinning.

Jilly said thank you to the Queen as she was escorted off the stage back to her cabin. Once she was off stage, the Queen continued on to the next contestant. "Duprez, we have another gentleman here I see."

"Yes, this man here is Jamie, and the woman standing next to him is Linda. They are a lovely married couple who like to preach the Lord's teachings, you know, love, kindness, etc. But that's only for human folk you see. Us vampires, well, according to them, we all should be killed on sight." Duprez answered rolling his eyes. He'd seen the likes of them before and no doubt would again in the future especially now that they were out of the closet.

"Are you all members of the Fellowship of the Sun?" The Queen asked the couple if they belonged to the beleaguered church, now run by Sarah Newlin since Reverend Newlin, her former husband, had recently joined the ranks of the vampires.

"Yes. Yes we are." Jamie replied proudly.

"Well you are proud of that, aren't you? Hmmmm… How's that working out for you?" The Queen asked, snickers quickly followed from the audience.

"We will find our salvation with the Lord, as the Lord sees fit." Linda replied, no trepidation in her answer.

"But he's not exactly coming for you right now, is he?" The Queen pressed on, "Maybe you're not as pious as you think you are. Maybe, just maybe, your Lord doesn't think you are worthy of His salvation. Maybe your narrow-mindedness, your intolerance and your self-righteousness sicken him like it sickens us. Maybe he's not coming for you at all."

"One of your kind killed our son on spring break. You're all nothing but murderers. Every last one of you." Jamie boldly spoke to the Queen.

"Well, I cannot speak to the circumstances of your son's death. I wasn't involved. But what I can tell you is that humans have been murdering each other since the dawn of man. It's even in your bible. Do you hate all humans now too? Do you want to condemn the human race like you do the vampire race merely because of the tendency of some towards murder? Are you that simple?" The Queen retorted, feeling her point had been made.

Jamie and Linda's faces fell as the Queen's words started to cut through their carefully constructed walls of hate. They hated vampires because a single vampire had killed their son while on spring break. They joined that church to give their hatred validation. But the truth was that a human could've easily committed the same crime against their son. They were condemning an entire race of people for the actions of one. They realized now that they were wrong and that the hate they filled their hearts with led them to this situation they found themselves in now.

I felt so bad for Jamie and Linda. They looked like a sweet middle-aged couple, him with a solid build, like he was probably a football player in high school and she looked like she was his high school cheerleader sweetheart. They lost their child and let hate fill up the void their child left when he died. Unfortunately instead of being able to let go, they ended up here with the rest of us. 'Why the fuck _am_ I here though?' I thought to myself again.

As I stood in the tent, listening to the stories of the other people here, I saw an obvious pattern… pretty much all these people had either committed a crime against a vampire or pissed one off. The only vampires I had actually ever met were Bill and Jessica and as far as I know I never did nothing to make them mad and I certainly hadn't committed any crimes against any vampires. Sookie certainly would have told me I'd done something wrong if I had. I mean, I go to school; I go to work; I work on my side business with the furniture. I haven't even been on a date in… Jesus I don't even remember the last time I was out on a date. Why was I here? I just couldn't figure it out. While it seemed that the vampire sheriffs were all attempting to clean house of the undesirable humans in their areas, why did Eric send me here? What did Eric have against me?

While getting lost in my thoughts, I missed the story of the last person, Bob I think his name was. Did it even matter? Only one person was going to live through these games and it wasn't like the vampires were going to let that person tell everyone's tale who participated. 'Wait…' I thought to myself, 'I do need to listen. I'm going to be participating against these people and as horrible as it may be, I need to know their stories because they may be able to give me an advantage.' I needed to concentrate on survival now. I need to be on my A game here. I don't want to die.

So I watched as Sheriff Duprez left the stage in a blur and the Queen introduced the next one, Sheriff Luis Patino. He was a tall, slender bald man dressed similarly to Duprez. 'I wonder if that's a vampire thing, the mostly black form fitting attire.' I thought to myself while Patino situated himself next to his first contestant.

"My Queen and distinguished overseers, it is my pleasure to introduce Amber. Amber is a stripper who stole a large amount of money and drugs from a very influential vampire in my area. Needless to say said vampire was pretty pissed off. Amber is here to make amends." Patino said with a very sexy Latino accent.

"Was it worth it?" The Queen asked the pretty blonde girl dressed more demurely than her stated occupation would have suggested.

"Obviously not." Amber replied while shrugging her shoulders and sighing. She knew she was screwed.

"An simple and honest response. I'll take that." The Queen replied as she went on to the next person. "And this one?"

Patino replied, "This one is Stuart. He's a V addict. Has it real bad. I honestly don't think he'd ever be able to come clean even if given the chance." The camera panned to Stuart who was shaking twitchily and scratching at his arms, as if there were something underneath his skin. 'Withdrawal…' I thought to myself. 'He's going through withdrawal. I'd helped Lafayette go through withdrawal from prescription pain medication after he had a run in with someone. He had been gone for a couple weeks. No one knew where he was, but he came back… different. He was quiet and got spooked by his own shadow. It didn't take long after he was back before he got hooked on those pills, which I think he was using to numb the pain of whatever he went through. If I get through this, I could honestly say I didn't know how I was going to live with the knowledge of what went on.

The Queen just shooed her fingers towards the man while walking past him and saying, "Not worth my time. Next."

"The beautiful woman standing in front of you is Renee. She was my last pet." Patino began as his eyes roamed over the very pretty red head dressed impeccably in a navy striped halter dress, silver bangle bracelets and red patent leather high heels that accentuated her already noticeable height. She easily could have been a runway model. But since life is never fair, she's here instead.

"Your last pet? Patino… you rascal. What's she doing here? Did she not please you? Or were you not her type?" The Queen asked seductively as she eyed the red head with longing. The red head flirted right back at the Queen with her facial expressions, figuring it was better to flirt up, especially since she burned her bridge with Patino.

Patino rolled his eyes and answered, "Oh I pleased her just fine. You can ask her if you like, even glamour her. However, she did not know her place. She began acting like she was on the same level as me, trying to order vampires around, telling them I gave her the authority. Like I would give some human slut that kind of power. Please. It was insulting to me. It was insulting to our kind. So here she is, learning exactly where her place. Is."

"The Queen raised her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side as she said, "Well, so there you have it folks. This one needs to be reminded of her place. These games should certainly do that."

I was really starting to get sick and tired of hearing how low we were on the food chain and that we pretty much meant nothing to these monsters. Just because we didn't live as long as them didn't mean that our lives were any less valuable. As far as I could tell, both races had feelings, had lives (of some sort) and wanted to live without being hassled. We weren't _that_ different.

"Okay Patino, who is this lovely creature?" The Queen asked sarcastically looking at the disheveled unattractive slightly overweight male who had just finished scratching his ass before she walked up to him. "And why does he look like he needs a bath?"

"He is a homeless man I picked up. I figured no one was going to miss him. I'd seen him on the same corner for five years. Most people probably will think he went off and died somewhere. Well, I guess that won't be too far from the truth." Patino answered with a shrug.

"Well, you could have at least bathed him. He reeks of urine and lord knows what else." Sophie-Anne said while holding her nose.

"While I apologize my Queen for his unpleasant aroma, I have to say that I did attempt to have him bathe. Evidently his mental illness, whatever it may be, prevents him from bathing. He said that it would wash off some sort of protection against the aliens who have been monitoring his thoughts." Patino said with an eye roll.

As if the man hadn't been listening to what Patino just said, he started talking directly to the Queen. "I'm Freddy. You're real pretty, but you're too clean. You aren't working with the aliens, are you? They like to get into your mind and make you do things, horrible things. The dirt keeps them out of your head. They don't like dirt. You should try it." His eyes started to dart around, as if he was searching for something to pop out of blue. The Queen just walked to the next person, knowing you can't fight with crazy.

I thought about how sad it was that he was so worried about some non-existent alien mind invasion when he had something truly awful and dangerous to worry about right in front of him. Maybe this type of ignorance was bliss?

"Patino?" The Queen said, pointing to the next person, hoping that their story would be something she could work with.

"Ahhhh yes, this is Cal. A fine specimen of man, no? He looks like a natural in that suit, doesn't he? Powerful. Manly. Influential." Patino said as he walked in a circle around the tall, handsome, well-built man.

"Yes, he does Patino. A man like this looks like a man that would be missed however…" The Queen said through narrowed eyes. She had specifically noted in her instructions to her Sheriffs that the contestants could not be anyone that would be overly missed.

"But you haven't let me finish his story, my Queen. I promise, you'll like it." Patino said charmingly to his Queen as she smiled and waved her hand to have him continue.

"Cal here was planning on running for a state senate seat on the Fellowship of the Sun platform, promoting discriminatory laws against vampires." Patino began again.

"_Patino_…" The Queen said with a growl, now pissed that she could possibly have the Fellowship of the Sun breathing down their necks trying to find this fucker.

"Not to worry my Queen, not to worry. He _would_ have made a very good candidate. Look at him, great looks, lean, he's actually great at public speaking; the Fellowship really thought they had the perfect candidate, one that could eventually go all the way to the White House. But, you know most people have skeletons in their closets, don't they…" Patino dangled the last part to peak the Queen's interest. The look on her face told him that he was succeeding.

Patino continued, "Well, Cal here is no exception to that. It seems that Cal here had turned down the advances of a certain Sarah Newlin because she wasn't his type."

The Queen, now really curious, then asked, "So what is his type?"

"Big strapping men who like to take charge. It seems that Ms. Newlin did not take his rejection well and had him followed… all the way to an S&M hotspot where she caught her political hopeful tied up and getting pleasured by a man. She called a hit out for him immediately. The hitman who she contacted, a good friend of mine, then called me and asked if I wanted a go with him, seeing that he was pretty vocal in taking away our rights. So of course I agreed to take him. Trust me when I say he was as good as gone anyway."

While the Queen knew that when one gets taken down, another will just sprout up and take their place, it was the way of politics, but it still felt good, none the less to know that there are cracks in the Fellowship of the Sun. "So you were betrayed by the very group that you were to lead. How does that feel Cal?" The Queen asked ruefully.

Cal didn't look at the Queen when he spoke, but rather at the floor. "I just wanted to make something of myself. I met Sarah at a book signing. She was like a tornado, so sure of herself, so excited about the cause, so energetic. It was easy to get caught up in her rhetoric. By the time I stopped to actually think about what I was doing, it was too late to back out. I didn't necessarily agree with it all, but I was in too deep. I was on ballots and people wanted to vote… for me."

"And what about us, the vampires you were willing to throw under the bus for some personal validation of your worth?" The Queen asked spitefully.

"I never knew any vampires, so I guess I didn't think about how it'd affect you." Cal replied, eyes still downcast.

While the vampires were not high on my list right now, I knew that it was wrong to go out and try to take away the political rights of an entire group of people, especially without even thinking about how it would affect them. This guy didn't seem too smart to be perfectly honest. He didn't even believe in his own platform, didn't think about the group he was trying to disenfranchise, and then to top it all off he pissed off the leader of his group. Granted, he was good looking, but that only takes you so far in politics. I'd seen enough disgraced politicians on CNN, TMZ and E! News to know that. 'God, are all politicians like this? I guess it would explain **a lot**.'

"_This_ was their great hope for the White House. Thank goodness he never saw the state senate seat. He's a moron!" The Queen laughed and the audience joined in.

"Okay everyone, let's get to the last one here Patino." The Queen said after the audience noise died down.

"This is Ellen. Ellen is a researcher with the Louisiana Department of Health. Her main focus is on vampire biology." Patino introduced the woman with a certain degree of seriousness that none of the others had received before.

"Is that so. Tell me Ellen, have you discovered any interesting facts about our kind?" Sophie-Anne asked as she walked very close to the frightened woman, taking off the woman's glasses, breathed on them and then proceeded to clean them with the woman's shirt before slowly putting them back on the woman's face. It was obvious that the Queen was trying to intimidate the woman by invading her personal space.

Ellen opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, but was too frightened to do so. The Queen, noticing the sheer panic on the woman, while pleased to induce the feeling, knew she'd be unable to speak. So instead, the Queen pressed Patino for answers. "Have they discovered anything Patino?" The Guardian and Chancellor both perked up in the chairs, wanting to know the answer to that question as well.

"No. But they are doing their research on unwilling vampires." Patino said while glaring at Ellen. Ellen quickly looked down at the floor.

"Well, I guess we all know who won't be getting any favors during the games." The Queen said while pointing to Ellen before adding, "Thank you Patino. Good job here."

"Your Majesty." Patino said while bowing in respect before leaving the stage as his contestants were ushered off as well.

"Okay Area 4, we're ready for you." The Queen yelled out as Sheriff Blackburn sauntered out from the crowd and onto the stage, no hurry noticeable in his step. His contestants actually ran out on stage quicker.

"Your Majesty and esteemed overseer's." Blackburn said while nodding to the group, knowing that at least that much respect would be expected, but he'd give no more to this show. Not that he cared for the humans; they all seemed to be receiving their just rewards according to vampire laws, but rather he just hated to have to go through all this pomp and circumstance.

"Okay Blackburn, introduce us to your contestants." The Queen said happily. She was quite content with the flow of the evening so far.

"Right. Okay." He replied before walking past each contestant, "Beau Bob, V addict. Doug, V addict. John, V distributer. June, stupid slut. Neil, V addict. Leo, dumbass."

Eric nearly let out a chuckle when Blackburn casually walked past each of his contestants, giving the bare minimum of a description of each. That was Blackburn for you. He could be a hot head at times, a calculated bastard at others, and a friend most times to Eric, but what Blackburn wasn't… well, he wasn't a kiss ass.

The Queen wasn't pleased… at all… with Blackburn's brief descriptions. She wanted stories. She wanted drama. She wanted a show. She was about to go off on the sheriff when the Guardian spoke to her. "Sophie-Anne, it seems that Blackburn has realized that this is running a bit behind schedule. Thank you Blackburn for your concise introductions."

Sophie-Anne wasn't expecting the Guardians words, but as she looked at her watch, she noticed that he was indeed right. They needed to move the show on so they could get everything they wanted to done before sunrise.

"Yes, thank you Blackburn. You may exit the stage as well as your contestants." The Queen finally said as the contestants were ushered off and Blackburn walked off just as slowly as he walked on, hands in pocket, not a care in the world about this spectacle. He, like Eric, wondered what the ramifications of these games would be.

Eric knew he was next, but wasn't exactly excited about it. Thankfully he only had three contestants to deal with. The Queen had lessened his quota because of all the vampire issues in his area and all the money he contributed to the games. However, all three posed some problem in their stories. He couldn't let the audience know what he did about Mac and Denise; he was still just starting that investigation. He hoped that whoever was pulling the strings of that couple wasn't in the audience, or if they were, that they didn't pick up that Eric knew more than he was about to let on. And then there was the girl, Olivia. He certainly couldn't tell everyone that she was there solely as a tool to cut his emotional ties with Sookie; to make Sookie hate him; to shut that door forever. It would make him look like a fool for falling for a human of all people, a human married to another, lesser vampire.

"Sheriff Northman of Area 5, come on down. You're up." The Queen said, rattling Eric out of his inner thoughts. While he zipped to the stage at vampire speed, it was out of just wanting to get this shit out of the way as opposed to jumping up like a lap dog to please his Queen.

When I heard the Queen say that Area 5 was next, my area, it felt like I was moving in slow motion. As fear filtered throughout my body, I had to make an extra concerted effort to actual get my legs to move. There were only six of us now in that tent, and after Mac, Denise and I left for the stage, there would only be three left. Things were moving along, but to what, I still didn't know.

Watching events unfold on the television in the tent made all this seems surreal, like it wasn't really happening, or rather, not happening to me. But now, while making my way onto the stage with Mac and Denise in tow, the reality of it was hitting me in the gut awfully hard. And as I walked, I looked out towards the audience and saw just how many of them there actually were. It was mind-boggling. I had no idea that there were that many vampires in the world. Were there more? Did I want to know the answer to that? Probably not, seeing as if I made it out of here alive, I would be constantly thinking about how all those vampires are just lurking around us.

The three of us stopped by the markers we saw on the ground that indicated where we were supposed to stand. Mac and Denise looked just as worried as I was about being on stage, but of course we all held our tongues, just like everyone else. No one wanted a repeat of what happened to Mac earlier.

"So Northman, since you only have these three, I'd like a story for each one. A _good _story." The Queen said, placing emphasis on good. She still wanted to enthrall her audience.

Eric rolled his eyes before speaking, "Your Majesty, Guardian, Chancellor and Ms. Broadway…" Eric wasn't about to give accolades to that witch. He had had his fair share of run-ins with witches in the past, enough to make him leery at best and pissed off at worst at them. "These two here, Mac and Denise, are a husband and wife who are also V addicts. This woman here, Olivia, is a waitress at a bar and grill in my area." Eric knew that the Queen was going to ask her questions whether he liked it or not, but he wasn't going to divulge any more than he absolutely had to.

"V addicts… that seems to be the cliché here, doesn't it. Boring. But you my dear…" The Queen said with lust evident in her eyes as she circled Olivia, breathing in her scent. "You my dear are very interesting. What did you do to earn your place here? Did you not please the Sheriff in bed? Maybe you were looking for some other types of pleasure?"

Was this bitch actually hitting on me? Was she serious? This woman threw a man into the audience to have him be torn apart and she thinks that makes her dating material. Uhhh no. I couldn't help the revolted look that flashed across my face at the thought of what she was suggesting.

Eric smirked at the girl's obvious feeling of repulsion towards the Queen. He always loved it when the Queen was taken down a notch.

"Not here because of bad sex with the Sheriff then… hmmm… maybe you stole something? Tell your dear friend Sophie-Anne here what you did. It'll make you feel better." The Queen said mockingly as she took a hold of Olivia's hands, trying to evoke an Oprah moment. The audience laughed at the awkward sight.

I pulled my hands out from the Queen's mockingly insincere grasp slowly, not wanting to piss her off, but the idea of her touching me was seriously giving me the willies. Luckily for me, she didn't outwardly take offense to the slight, but she did stare at me with those demanding eyes, wanting her answer. The problem was I didn't know what landed my ass here. And so, there really was nothing else I could say but "I did nothing that I know of. I really don't know why I'm here."

"I don't enjoy being played with child! You will tell me why you are here!" The Queen yelled at Olivia, her patience gone, making Olivia take a step back with wide eyes filled with terror.

"She didn't do anything! She shouldn't be here!" Sookie yelled from the stands, standing with fists clenched and anger evident in every syllable she spoke.

Sookie? Sookie's here. 'Oh my God, maybe I'll get out of this yet!' I thought to myself as hope and happiness blossomed in my chest and a smile crossed my face. 'Sookie will get me out of this. She has connections. Bill's here too. I see him. They'll help me. I know it.' I further thought as I looked pleadingly at my friends to help me.

"Sookie!" Bill snapped in a low tone at his wife. "Sit down!"

Sookie could tell by her husband's tone that she should probably listen and so she followed his command, albeit hesitantly; she truly wanted to help her friend. If they were at home, his chiding would have earned him a good fight followed by a day of sleeping in a coffin, alone. But he was her husband who loved her; he would tolerate her sass. And now, now they were in front of a whole bunch of bloodthirsty vampires who wouldn't. This wasn't the place to put up a scene. So as Sookie sat down, she broke eye contact with friend, sadly gazing at the ground hoping she didn't make things worse for Olivia.

"My Queen, I apologize for my wife's outburst. You see, Olivia there is a good friend of Sookie's." Bill started to explain before the Queen cut him off.

"Oh, I see, so then she was fucking you and you wanted to hide it from wifey. Okay, that is juicy." Sophie-Anne surmised, incorrectly with a wicked grin on her face.

"What! No! The only reason why those three are up there is because they were the next three to walk through the door of Merlotte's. That's the story." Bill said exasperated.

"Is that true Northman? Can you verify that?" Sophie-Anne asked.

"Yes. The Compton's were there the night in question." Eric replied simply, after all, it was the truth. He turned his eyes to look at Olivia at the revelation of her friend's inadvertent betrayal. He could see, as well as everyone else in the audience, the hurt, anger, and utter devastation she felt upon finding out her friends knew about what was going to happen to her. The raw emotion situated on her face was too almost too much to bear, especially knowing his part in the pain there. While Eric normally didn't care about humans, and he certainly didn't care about humans that did him or his kind wrong, he did, however, usually operate with a certain code of honor where he would cause no harm where no harm was caused. Here though, he broke his own code; broke his honor. This girl should not be here, but there was no backing out now.

"But you said that the couple were V addicts?" The Queen further implored, looking for more to the story.

"They are, but the only reason why I know that is because of previous run-ins with them." Eric replied, trying to still keep vague his actual knowledge about the couple.

"Fate. I like it. Fate brought you three here. I wonder what your fates will be?" Sophie-Anne thought aloud before saying, "Okay Northman, thank you. Off you three go then." Sophie-Anne then shooed us towards the other tent with her hands.

As I walked towards the other tent, I did so with my eyes trained on Bill and Sookie, my so-called friends, daring them to look back at me. _They knew_. They knew the night that I was kidnapped what was going to happen and they did _nothing_ to warn me, nothing to stop Eric. All the hope and happiness I had just felt a moment ago, crashed and burned, leaving me an emotional wreck. My emotions were already on overdrive and now I was just shaking ready to explode, the weight of everything just almost too much to bear. I kept my eyes on them until I reached the other tent, only turning when I had to finally enter it. Neither one bothered to look at me after their words with the Queen.

Bill had grabbed Sookie's hand as he sat down, squeezing it as they both looked at the clasped symbol of their unity and love. Neither one could bring themselves to look up though, both too ashamed to look at Olivia, their friend who now knew of their compliance in her abduction. Olivia was smart. They knew she would pick up on the fact that they did nothing to stop Eric. Could they have? Maybe they should have tried harder or come up with another plan to help her, but to be honest, this was Eric. Could they have afforded another run in with him? Maybe. But he was not one to let things go and they would've paid dearly for going against his choice. But more to the point, they were so tired, tired of playing these vampire politics, these vampire games, tired of fighting Eric, they were just tired. And now, because they lost the fight in them, Olivia was going to have to fight for her life. It almost felt like a passing of the torch to them but it didn't make them feel any better about themselves. It made them sick to their stomachs with what life and their choices had made them become.


End file.
